May and Ash's Unova Journey
by NEBSparky86
Summary: May and Ash are a couple and Ash has won the Sinoh League.  Now May and Ash are going to the Unova region on a new journey.  How will the couple handle new Pokemon and new friends?  Ash/May fanfic.  Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at a Pokémon fanfic. Please go easy on me. Read and review. I would appreciate it.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Pokémon; Nintendo owns it. All credit goes to Nintendo.

May and Ash's Unova Journey

1: Prologue

May

I was going crazy when Ash was on my mind after I saw him in the Sinnoh region. Thanks to my good friend Relena Kaiou, I was able to confess my feelings to Ash while we were still in the Battle Frontier. It started slow at first but with the incident with Manaphy, Ash showed his true colors and really helped me when he showed his concern for my safety. Manaphy even called Ash papa. Both of us didn't want go separate ways but Relena warned us that if we stayed together, there would problems for of us and we would probably try to kill each other in the process. For both of us it was painful to part ways. Our last night before parting ways was spent away from Max and Brock. We swam in a river close to our campsite, spent most of the night under the clear sky watching Beautifly flying over the treetops and kissed long and hard. Even though I saw Ash twice in the Sinnoh region, I still missed him like crazy and just being away from him hurt me.

Once the Grand Festival in Johto was finished, I hurried back to the Sinnoh region to watch Ash compete in the Sinnoh League and be there at his side. I seemed to arrive there before Ash as did a few other Pokémon Ash helped out in the past. Lucario from the Hoenn region came to help out, as did Latias from Alto Mare in the Johto region, of course Ash's Charizard came to help his pal again like he did at the Battle Factory; Azelf accompanied me from Lake Valor and Zorua returned from the Unova region as a favor for helping his mother. When Ash arrived at the Sinnoh League, he was surprised to see that the Pokémon he helped in the past came to help him out for Pokémon League competition; but he was even more surprised to me there waiting for him. Both of us ran towards each other embraced each other. We even attracted a little bit of attention from some passer-bys and the champion Cynthia. Cynthia and I shook hands and it was an honor to meet her on a formal basis rather than being professional at Spear Pillar. She told Ash that he was a lucky guy to have me as his girlfriend and his face turned bright red as she laughed and went her way.

Once Ash's face cooled down, Latias tackled him to the ground rubbed her cheek on Ash's cheek and hugged him. It made me uneasy but Brock explained how Ash knew Latias and I felt a little jealous but I had one of those moments with Manaphy except that Manaphy became part of my team and Latias stayed behind. I thought Charizard was going to squeeze Ash to death until he saw me approaching him and let Ash let go. Latias turned to one of Ash's friends and followed us to the hotel as did the rest of the Pokémon. The group was given a large suite courtesy of Cynthia as a way of thanking us and congratulating Dawn for winning the Grand Festival. Almost no one could predict Ash's team except for that one creepy guy and Paul. Paul definitely gave Ash one heck of a fight but Ash defeated him with a come from behind win with help from Charizard.

The next battle was the most difficult fight for Ash as I sat down behind Ash in the coach's seat. I wasn't Ash's coach but his girlfriend supporting him as he needed my support and cheering him on. Ash really struggled with that Darkrai as it took down Septile and severely took a toll on Lucario weakening him for his Latios to finish it off. Latias wouldn't fight Latios because the Latios made her think about her sibling who died protecting her and the citizens of Alto Mare. Azelf took Latias' spot and fought hard but fell to Latios' quick speed and fast attacks. As Ash was preparing to call on Charizard, another Pokémon appeared from out of nowhere.

"My goodness people we are truly witnessing the arrival of a Pokémon from legend," said the announcer as even Cynthia was amazed by arrival of a white Pokémon with something similar to what Dialga and Palkia had forcibly attached to them by Cyrus. Ash seemed to recognize the Pokémon as one he helped before.

"Arceus, it's been awhile hasn't it?" Ash asked the Pokémon.

'Yes, indeed it has been awhile,' replied the Pokémon,Arceus. 'Come, I shall fight with you.'

Ash paused a minute to look at his Pokédex to see what attacks Arceus had to use.

"Let's see Judgment, Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt and Recover," read Ash before turning to Arceus. "Alright then let's do it! Arceus, I choose you!"

"And trainer Ash Ketchum is calling on the legendary Pokémon Arceus," the announcer said to the crowd. "Legends say that this Pokémon is responsible for creating the universe and once gave humans part of its power forming a priceless jewel called the Jewel of Life. Can Ash be able to handle the immense power of Arceus?"

Arceus definitely helped Ash secure victory in the battle as his opponent was finally defeated. Once the battle was over I got out of my seat and leapt into Ash's arms. Thankfully, Ash caught me as I gently put my arms around his neck. We didn't kiss in front of everyone in the stadium even though they knew we were a couple. Arceus returned to where he came from. Much of the day's battles were over and a lot of fans left with excited faces that they got to see legendary Pokémon like Arceus. Ash and I went back to our hotel room as we wanted to rest and have time to ourselves… and our Pokémon. Much of our time was spent at the hotel pool and on the balcony of our room.

A lot of the fans swarmed us asking for autographs and asking how Ash caught the Pokémon he was using the tournament. Only when Cynthia or Relena showed up did the fans leave us alone. Relena would just shoo the fans away or let the fans follow her; she was a bigger celebrity than both us because she won the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Leagues in a row and was a big time Pokémon Ranger. It seemed that both of us had become celebrities without us knowing it. The next day Ash got a well deserved break as the tournament committee gave the finalists a break to rest their Pokémon for the finals. Ash wanted to get his Pokémon trained but I insisted that they needed rest too. All I had to do was give Ash my patented puppy Growlithe eyes which let my eyes sparkle and charm him into doing anything I wanted him to do and he relented and gave his Pokémon a break.

'_Man, you are really a gullible guy,_' commented Pikachu.

"Hey don't push it Pikachu," countered Ash.

'_I'm not,_' replied Pikachu, '_but I say we need to travel with May again; and __this time not __separately. I missed May a lot._'

"Join the club," said Ash as both of them waited for me so we could go swimming. "Ever since we separated, I couldn't get May out of my head and I missed her terribly.

'_Yeah, May is the best traveling partner,_' said Pikachu as I stood at the door and listened to Ash and Pikachu's conversation.

"What about Misty?" Ash asked Pikachu as he hooted with laughter. "You wouldn't fight against her or her Pokémon." Pikachu glared at Ash when he brought up Misty.

When I met Misty, I thought Ash might've had a crush on her but it was unlikely as I heard from Brock that Ash and Misty argued a lot. There was no way Ash and Misty would be a couple.

'_That maybe true,_' said Pikachu, '_but May is a lot friendlier __than Misty… and cuter too._'

"Yeah, I know," agreed Ash. "Hey wait a minute; that's my line!" I giggled a little before Manaphy opened the door and caused my fall forward.

'Mama, are you okay?' Manaphy asked me as I got up from falling.

"I'm ok Manaphy," I answered Manaphy as I picked him up and held him in my arms. "Well Ash, are we going to go swimming?"

"Yeah," answered Ash as he got his swim trunks out of his back pack and went to change in the bathroom.

'Hey May,' Pikachu said to me as he came up to my side, 'it would be nice if you and Ash stay together and travel with each other. I miss us traveling together.'

"I know what you mean," I said to Pikachu as I pet him and gently rubbed his cheeks much to his delight. "That's why I'm done traveling alone. I want to stay by Ash's side and be with him. Once the Sinnoh League tournament is done, I'm gonna go back to Pallet Town with you guys."

Pikachu's ears stood up and his eyes got brighter when I told him I wanted to go back to Pallet Town. He jumped on my shoulder and rubbed his cheek on my left cheek in delight.

'Oh please come back to Pallet Town,' said Pikachu as rubbed my cheek. 'Ash's mother would be very happy to see you again. She was really happy to hear Ash has a girlfriend; you'll like her.'

"But I already met her; before we went to the Kanto Battle Frontier," I told Pikachu as both of us were unaware that Ash stood there listening to us talking.

"You really want to stay with me?" asked Ash he slowly approached me.

"Yes I do Ash," I answered Ash as I stood up and put Manaphy on the bed. "I want us to be together, share good times and bad together and experience the joys of traveling together again.

"Please Ash let's travel with each other again," I said to Ash as I faced him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "I just want us to be together again. I love you Ash Ketchum and I always will." Ash wrapped his arms around my waist as we shared a kiss.

"Alright May," said Ash as he looked at me gently, "we'll travel together. You, me, Pikachu and Manaphy traveling together on another journey."

"Do you promise?" I asked Ash sweetly.

"I promise," said Ash as he leaned in to kiss me. Lucario came back to room to rest when he entered the room with Cynthia following him wanting to talk to Ash. Both Lucario and Cynthia had stunned looks on their faces and then closed the door to let us enjoy our time in each others embrace. Once we let each other go, we headed for the pool.

"We have a winner!" the announcer exclaimed with great enthusiasm. "Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town has just won Sinnoh League Tournament."

One of Ash's dreams came true; winning the Sinnoh League for his hometown back in Kanto. At the presentation ceremony I stood by Ash's side as did all the Pokémon who helped him, even Arceus returned to see the ceremony. Ash was given a trophy to prove he won the tournament and was invited to come back to the tournament. After the closing ceremony, Ash's Pokémon friends returned back to their homes in Hoenn and Johto. Ash and I went back to Pallet Town to rest. Now our journey and our life together will begin.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. All credit goes to Nintendo. I'm just taking credit for the storyline I'm creating.

I decided to have May tell the story

2: The Week before Departure and May's Recollection

Ash and I saw Pallet Town in distance much to our relief as we had been walking much of the day. Luckily for us an old friend of Ash's old Kanto Pokémon team made sure we were protected from a Fearow and his gang of Spearow. I asked Ash why a Fearow would give trouble to Pokémon in the forest and for him. Ash explained that the Fearow had grudge against him because of a misunderstanding when he first started on his journey with Pikachu. It was kind of hard to believe that Pikachu and Ash didn't get along with each other seeing as how they get along now after spending three years of travelling together. But I guess even friends have times when they start on the wrong foot just like Ash and I.

Once we got through the forest with Pidgeot protecting us, Ash hugged his old friend and Pidgeot flew back into the forest while we continued on our way to Pallet Town. As we saw Pallet Town a group of Butterfree gathered around us as if to welcome Ash home. It was a beautiful site to see as they flew away into the clear night sky with the moon shining brightly. Ash and I held each other's hands and continued towards Pallet Town. Once we got into Pallet Town, we headed to Ash's house where Ash's mother and her Mr. Mime waited for us. Mrs. Ketchum ran to the door gave Ash a big hug as she wrapped him and Pikachu in her arms.

"I'm so proud of you Ash," said Mrs. Ketchum as she bear hugged Ash and Pikachu.

"Thanks mom," replied Ash as he struggled to breathe, "now can you let me go; I can't breathe."

Mrs. Ketchum let her son go and both he and Pikachu caught their breath.

"Hi Mrs. Ketchum, it's good to see you again," I said to Ash's mother as Manaphy waved to her and said hello as well.

"Hello May," replied Mrs. Ketchum as she looked at both me and Manaphy, "and Manaphy; I saw the Grand Festival in Johto. Your Pokémon performed well in the Grand Festival."

"Thank you Mrs. Ketchum," I said to Ash's mother.

"You're taking good care of Manaphy, right?" asked Mrs. Ketchum as she looked at Manaphy on my shoulder.

I smiled and said, "Of course, I take good care of Manaphy. I am his mother after all."

'Love… you, mama,' Manaphy said to me and impressed Mrs. Ketchum.

"How did Manaphy say that?" asked Mrs. Ketchum.

"I taught him how to say that," I answered her as I got Manaphy in my arms.

Mrs. Ketchum smiled and said, "Well I'm sure you'll make a fine mother someday.

"Well come on you two lovebirds," finished Mrs. Ketchum. "I'm almost done fixing dinner."

'_Oh boy_!' exclaimed Pikachu as he leapt off of Ash's shoulder and followed Ash's mother in the house.

As we started to eat dinner, Professor Oak came in with his grandson Gary Oak.

"Why hello Ash," greeted Professor Oak as he looked at Ash and then noticed me, "and hello to you too May."

"Hey, who's the cutie?" asked Gary Oak.

"She's my girlfriend," answered Ash after washing down what food he had in his mouth. "This May from Petalberg City in the Hoen region."

"Ah, so you're the famous Princess of Hoen," assumed Gary as he recalled the exploits I had accomplished in Hoen, Kanto and in the Johto regions. He then turned to Ash and said, "Way to go Ash; I never thought you had good taste in girls."

Ash's face turned red with Gary embarrassing him; Professor Oak got after Gary and he backed off as both of them sat down and joined us for dinner. Gary told us what he had been doing since the battle at Lake Valor. He had been training his Pokémon and himself after being overpowered by Saturn and his Toxicroak. Gary said that he thought about getting into the Sinoh League but decided against it as he thought he wouldn't be able to gather all the gym badges in time and he didn't have a car with a chauffeur like he did at the start of his first journey; so he worked on his training instead and watched Ash compete in the Sinoh League tournament. He was a bit jealous to see Ash using rare and legendary Pokémon in his team.

Professor Oak mentioned to us that he was meeting with another Pokémon professor in a different region called the Unova region. He invited Ash and his mother to go with him; but Ash said that he wouldn't leave without me because he promised to travel with me. Professor Oak smiled and said to Ash, "I originally had planned on asking you and your mother but since you brought May home with you, I was going to ask her to join us as well."

"Of course I want to go with you," I said to Professor Oak. "Ash said he wanted to travel with me again. I'm not going to leave Ash's side again."

"My little boy is growing up," Ash's mother said as she smiledand looked at both of us. "I'm happy for both of you"

"Thanks mom," said Ash as his face turned a light red.

"Just make sure you take care of our little girl," said my parents as they came into the dining room from the kitchen and was a real surprise for me.

"Mom, dad? What are two doing here?" I asked my parents in surprise.

"Delia called us and told us that you were coming here," answered my mother. "I thought you were coming home after the Grand Festival in Johto. But then again you did ask me for a lot of advice about dealing with loneliness.

"I could also tell that you missed Ash greatly," continued my mother, "so you would've gone back to the Sinoh region to see Ash again."

"So Ash, I've got to congratulate you on winning the Sinoh League tournament," Dad said to Ash as he sat next to Ash and made him nervous. "But I'm concerned about you taking our daughter with you to another region."

"Don't worry about it Norman," Ash said calmly as he took my hand, "I'll protect May with my life."

'_I'll help him protect your daughter_,' added Pikachu.

"Caroline and I are holding you two to your word," Dad said to Ash and Pikachu as they guessed that Pikachu had said that he was going to protect me along with Ash. "But at any rate we planned on coming here after watching you win the Sinoh League and hang out with you for a little while."

"Hey, where's Max?" asked Ash.

"He and Ralts went their separate ways from me and my Pokémon," I answered Ash as I recalled Max asking me to let him go his separate way.

"Last time we heard from Max was when he was in Cherrygrove City," said Dad.

Mom then yawned and said, "Well Norman, I think you and I should turn in a little early tonight."

"Uh, I'm not tired," said Dad as Mom gave him her puppy dog eyes. "But, [yawn] I guess I could turn in too. Good night Delia, we'll see you in the morning."

"Good night Norman and Caroline," said Mrs. Ketchum as she looked at me and Ash after watching mom and dad go up the stairs. "Well Ash, I let them use your room so you and May are stuck either outside or on the fold-out bed in the living room."

Ash turned to me and asked, "Well what do you want to do?"

"Let's sleep outside," I answered Ash as I looked in his eyes and held his hands. "I think it would be romantic to sleep under the stars."

"Hey mom, where's the blow-up mattress?" Ash asked his mother.

"It's in the attic," answered Mrs. Ketchum as she smiled. "I hope you two enjoy the lovely clear sky. Well, [yawn] good night you two and enjoy your night under the stars."

"Night mom," said Ash.

'_Night_,' said Pikachu.

"Good night Mrs. Ketchum," I said to Ash's mother as Ash followed his mother to get to the attic.

After Ash got the blow-up mattress and a blanket, both of us headed outside after I tucked Manaphy into bed on the couch with Pikachu sleeping on couch with Manaphy. Pikachu promised to keep a close watch on Manaphy while Ash and I enjoyed our night away from the Pokémon. Ash led me to a hill close to his house with a beautiful view of Pallet Town.

"Oh my, what a beautiful view," I said as I took in the sight the small town.

"It's beautiful alright," said Ash as he finished setting up the mattress for us. "But it's not as beautiful as you."

I blushed as Ash said he thought I was beautiful; this was definitely a dream come true for me. I sat on the mattress and signaled for Ash to join me. He sat next to me and I sat in his lap as we watched the glowing lights of the town and some Pokémon still awake and moving about. While some of the Pokemon moved about, Ash and I made out with each other; a few young Pokemon thought Ash and I were putting on a show for them until their parents shooed them away.

After about twenty minutes or so, I fell asleep on Ash's shoulder. Then Ash began to fall asleep as well; he gently laid me on the mattress and fell asleep himself. As he fell asleep, I put my left arm across his chest continued to sleep. It was the best feeling I had, just being with the guy I fell in love with, in the great outdoors. For both of us, we slept in each other's arms peacefully throughout the night.

In the morning my mother came out to the hill with Manaphy crying in her arms. I was having a good dream when Manaphy's crying woke me up.

"Well, I see you two had a good night sleep," my mother said to me as she still had Manaphy in her arms still crying.

"Here, let me take Manaphy," I asked mother as I reached for Manaphy. Mom gave me Manaphy and I quieted him down.

'_Why did you leave me alone_?' asked Manaphy.

"I didn't leave you alone," I answered Manaphy as I gave Manaphy a gentle kiss on his forehead, "Ash and I wanted some time alone and I asked Pikachu to stay by you."

'_Well you could_'_ve told me that you wanted time alone with Papa_,' said Manaphy as he rubbed his cheek on mine.

"I know Manaphy," I said to Manaphy as I put Manaphy on my shoulder trying to copy Ash and Pikachu, "but I thought you'd like being with Pikachu last night."

'_It was nice being with Pikachu_,' said Manaphy.

Ash then got a rude awakening from Pikachu who used his Thunderbolt to wake him up; this really startled me, hearing Ash scream whenever he got shocked from Pikachu. He finally got up smelling crispy like chicken. Then he and Pikachu got into an argument with me, my mother and Manaphy watching silently both of them arguing. The argument was one sided because in the end Pikachu shocked Ash again and he relented. Pikachu grinned and made his way back to the house for breakfast. Mom followed Pikachu back to the house.

"You smell crispy like chicken," I said to Ash trying not to giggle at him.

"Yeah well, I wish Pikachu wouldn't resort to shocking me just to get me up in the morning," said Ash as he straightened his hair.

I gave Ash a peck kiss on his cheek and said, "I'm sorry about that Ash; I'll talk to Pikachu about that, okay?"

"Okay," answered Ash as gave me a peck kiss on my forehead. "Thanks May."

Ash folded up the blow-up mattress and brought it back with us as we walked back to the house.

"Pikachu!" I called to the cute yellow mouse Pokémon.

'_Eh_?' asked Pikachu as his ears perked up when he heard my sweet voice. Pikachu turned around and came over to my side.

"You shouldn't be shocking Ash just to wake him up," I said to Pikachu as he walked alongside me.

'_Well it_'_s not like I have much of a choice to wake him up_,' said Pikachu.

I smiled as I said to Pikachu, "Well there is one way to get him up without shocking him and that's through his stomach."

'_Huh_,_ I never thought of that_,' Pikachu said as he scratched the back of his head.

"You don't even have to have food with you," I added, "just tell him that breakfast is ready and he'll wake up."

'_I guess I can try that_,' said Pikachu.

'_It always works on Mama_,' Manaphy said to Pikachu.

"I guess it does work on me," I said nervously.

I don't know if Ash heard my conversation as we heard his stomach growling for food. Pikachu and I smiled after hearing his stomach growl only for our stomachs to growl for food. It was an embarrassing moment for us to have as we hurried back to his house for breakfast before Dad ate everything. I guess I get my appetite from him. Luckily for us Ash's mother had enough food for all of us to eat breakfast. Pikachu and Manaphy sure ate too as they were hungry as well.

My parents left Pallet after spending two days with us; they went back to Petalberg City and then Cynthia came to visit Ash after she dodged press mobs thanks to Relena's help and connections with the Black Reapers. Ash was surprised to see Cynthia again after the Sinoh League tournament; but welcomed her in.

'_Hi Cynthia_,' Pikachu said to the Sinoh champion as he leapt on her shoulder.

"Why hello there Pikachu," Cynthia said as she rubbed Pikachu under his chin much to his pleasure. "Are you keeping Ash out of trouble?"

'_Yup_,_ he_'_s staying out of trouble_,' answered Pikachu.

"So how did you find out where I live?" asked Ash as we entered his house.

"Relena told me that you lived here," answered Cynthia. "She also gave me a file the Pokémon Rangers have on you. I've gotta say you certainly got a knack for getting involved in breaking up crime syndicates."

"Oh, you mean Teams Aqua, Magma and Galactic?" asked Ash as he recalled which syndicates Cynthia was talking about.

"Yeah, but it's hard to believe that Team Rocket hasn't fallen yet," remarked Cynthia as we entered the kitchen to see Ash's mother making breakfast.

"That's because Giovanni has deep pockets in legitimate businesses around the world," said Relena as we saw her sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey Relena," I said to my best friend as my smiled faded, "I'm guessing you're still on assignment."

"Nope," answered Relena as she sipped her coffee, "I'm still filling out the details of the Team Galactic battle that left part of Lake Valor's lakeshore looking like a battlefield."

Beads of sweat dropped down my neck as I recalled the battle on Lake Valor when Harley and I blasted through Team Galactic's defenses and provided Ash's former rival, Gary Oak, some assistance and it was a bit overwhelming. I also remember having to apologize to the Pokémon about losing their homes due to our battle. Some of them were sore at me and Harley but Manaphy stepped in and told them that it wasn't our fault that part of their forest was destroyed. The Pokémon accepted our apology and asked us help bring Azelf back to Lake Valor.

Relena explained that there were some details that she had to fill in sections that were blocked from my report on the situation involving Team Galactic's defeat; like the excessive amount of force used to apprehend three Cyrus's commanders as Ash, Dawn and Brock ordered their Pokémon to attack them and their lawyers tried to use it to their advantage in an attempt to discredit the Pokémon Rangers saying that we told them to attack Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with their Pokémon. But luckily the jury didn't buy the defense's excuses sent them and Cyrus and his commanders to prison. The kitchen was silent for a few minutes then Ash's mother broke the silence after getting some food out of the microwave.

"Breakfast is ready," Mrs. Ketchum called as she saw that she had another guest. "Oh my, it seems that our house is starting to become a popular place to come and visit."

'_Yeah_,' agreed Mrs. Ketchum's Mr. Mime.

"Cynthia, this is my mother, Delia Ketchum," Ash said to Cynthia as he introduced Cynthia to his mother.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Ketchum," said Cynthia as extended her hand out to Ash's mother.

"I would shake your hand but my hands are busy at the moment," Ash's mother said politely as she moved toward the kitchen table.

"Here, let me help," offered Cynthia as she took a plate of food in Mrs. Ketchum's hands.

"Thank you, Miss Cynthia," said Mrs. Ketchum as she went to the cupboards for plates, utensils and juice glasses to set on the table. Ash and I took the plates, utensils and glasses from his mother and set the table for her since she had been cooking since early this morning. Pikachu urged Mrs. Ketchum to sit down while we took care of setting the table. She was grateful for us helping her out a bit as she sat down next to Relena, who was still filling out paperwork. I felt sorry for her having to rewrite my report for the top brass in the Pokémon Rangers. But she was finished with the report and sent it off to headquarters.

"Yeesh," said Relena as she gave a sigh of relief, "I'm a Pokémon Ranger, not a pencil pusher. You think they'd make a copy of your report instead of asking another Ranger to write the exact same report."

"Well you were present during the mission and you lead it too," I said as I set plates on the table. "You tend to be lazy when it comes to filling out a mission report."

"That's why I send video reports instead of writing them out," countered Relena. "It's much easier for them to see it from my point of view instead on paper."

"Well sometimes the bosses will want a written version than videos," Mrs. Ketchum said to Relena as she took a sip from her cup coffee. "And kids should still practice writing; it is an important skill to have in life."

Once the table was set for breakfast, all of us enjoyed breakfast together. Cynthia told Mrs. Ketchum about how she met Ash and a few other stories about Ash during his travels in the Sinoh region. Mrs. Ketchum listened to Cynthia's stories as she thought about how much Ash had grown up and about how many friends he had made since he first left on his journey to be a Pokémon master. Ash is really a likable guy. Breakfast went by at a considerable pace as Cynthia asked me how I got Manaphy.

I looked at Manaphy as he ate his breakfast with Pikachu, took a deep breath and told Cynthia everything about how I met Manaphy, learning that I was descended from the People of the Water, and Relena's fight with Jack Walker… [Ahem] I meant Jackie, about wither or not Manaphy should've been forced to go back to the sea or if he should be allowed to make his own decision to stay with me or go back to the sea. Cynthia and Mrs. Ketchum listened as I told them how I came to being Manaphy's mother. When I mentioned Phantom the Pirate, there was some bitterness in my voice as I recollected how he tried to steal the Sea Crown and ended putting the lives of me and my friends in danger of being crushed to death by the ocean. Once Ash had restored the Sea Crown, Phantom had tried to snatch Manaphy from me but my motherly instincts told me that Manaphy was in danger. As I scooped up Manaphy, Phantom had tried to grab Manaphy but I gave him a swift and high powered kick to his face knocking a canine out of his mouth.

Cynthia knew that I was part of the Shadow Rangers because I had told her that during the mission against Team Galactic. Anyway, back to my recollection, Phantom had challenged to me a show of strength which I was foolish enough to accept. Phantom though that he could break me in half because of my petite figure but the fact that I was nimble and quick enough to stay out of Phantom's grasp allowed me to knock some more teeth out Phantom's mouth and subsequently breaking his left wrist and disabling the use of his mecha suit which allowed him to lift heavy things that normal humans couldn't lift.

"Wow that's one heck of a story," said Cynthia as she smiled. "Normally I would've thought it was a crazy story but I believe it."

Like my parents, Cynthia only stayed for a couple days and then went back to her home region. Cynthia was given a tour of Professor Oak's laboratory where she met all of Ash's Pokémon. She was surprised to see that Ash took good care of his Pokémon… just kidding she saw that Ash's Pokémon were happy with being Ash's Pokémon. The rest of the week, we didn't have any more visitors from friends and it was rather quiet until Professor Oak came by to get us for our trip to the Unova region. Then our journey together began and it would start on a positive note.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon; Nintendo owns it. The only thing about this story I can claim is the storyline I created.

3: Arrival in the Unova Region

After a week of visitors and a few days of peace and quiet Ash, Mrs. Ketchum, Professor Oak, Pikachu, Manaphy and I boarded a plane for the Unova region. It was one of the best feelings I had since Ash first told me that he loved me. During the flight I slept through most of it until Ash gently shook me awake once the plane landed. What both of us didn't know was that Team Rocket were on the same flight as us and still had sights on Pikachu. When will those three ever learn that they'll never beat us separately or together? Ash and I got off the plane while his mother and Professor Oak got our luggage. Ash was easily distracted by the scenery by the view of the sea. I stood next to Ash as both of us enjoyed the view until Pikachu and Manaphy got snatched. Well, Manaphy, they snatched by mistake.

'_Mama_,_ help me_!' cried Manaphy as he struggled to get back.

'_Hey Ash_!' called out Pikachu as he too struggled to get free.

Ash and I turned to see Team Rocket snickering until the sky started to turn black.

"Pikachu is now part of Team Rocket and there's nothing you can…" Jessie started to say until she noticed Manaphy crying.

Meowth and James lost their professional faces and panicked when they saw they had taken Manaphy from me. I cracked my knuckles as I grabbed the device Meowth used to grab Pikachu and Manaphy from both of us. Meowth's eyes widened as I grabbed the device and pulled Meowth toward me. Jessie and James mustered as much courage as they could muster while helping Meowth keep hold of the device. With the strength I had and fire in my eyes, I yanked Team Rocket off the plane and pulled them towards me. Team Rocket shook in fear as they inched closer to me.

Before I forgot, I punched the glass container and freed Pikachu and Manaphy. Pikachu hurried to Ash's side while pulling Manaphy away towards him. Once Pikachu and Manaphy were away from me and next to Ash, I was about to let Team Rocket feel my motherly wrath when the sky got dark and it started storming around us. Team Rocket got struck by a random bolt of lightning and was sent blasting off again just like the good old days. But unfortunately the chaos didn't stop as what appeared to be a Pokémon appeared visible for a moment a few times and used its power and zapped Pikachu for an unknown reason. I quickly scooped up Manaphy into my arms while poor Pikachu was being zapped.

Once the Pokémon was done zapping Pikachu it disappeared into the sky and the dark clouds disappeared and sky was blue once again. Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak came out of the airport terminal with a concerned look on their faces.

"Are you two okay?" asked Mrs. Ketchum as she came out of terminal.

"Yeah we're fine," answered Ash as he put Pikachu on his left shoulder.

'_Oh yeah_!' exclaimed Pikachu with enthusiasm.

'_I_'_m fine too_,' added Manaphy as he got on my right shoulder.

"That's good to hear since I've been waiting here for you for like… three hours," said a familiar voice sitting on the roof of the terminal building with one leg hanging and her eyes closed.

'_Hey Relena_!' Pikachu called to our friend with a cheerful smile.

Once Relena got down from the roof, a woman in a lab coat came towards the small group.

"My, I didn't know you had a group coming otherwise I would've brought a larger vehicle," The woman said as she looked at us.

"Well hello there Professor Juniper," said Professor Oak as he saw the woman in a lab coat. "Everyone this is Professor Juniper."

"Hello there," replied Professor Juniper. "Well shall we get going?" Everyone gave her a slight nod as we all exited the airport only to see two vehicles. Professor Juniper's five seated jeep and a Warthog LRV without any weapons on them. Ash and I got in Professor Juniper's jeep along with Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak while Relena drove her Warthog right behind us. Ash and Pikachu enjoyed the sightseeing as new Pokémon seemed run alonside as both vehicles drove to Nuvema Town.

Professor Juniper explained that the Pokémon from Kanto and Sinnoh regions as she noticed Pikachu and Manaphy in mine and Ash's laps. After an hour drive we reached Professor Juniper's lab. Once we entered Professor Juniper's lab, Professor Juniper went to work on examining Pikachu for any problems based what Ash described to her. During Pikachu's examination, Relena handed Professor Juniper a folder that had a profile on Ash and me. Professor Juniper looked at Ash's profile that the Pokémon Rangers had on him and was impressed.

"I must say Ash you have quite the resume," said Professor as she browsed through Ash's profile. "You certainly have quite a collection of badges and have knack for getting involved in trouble."

"What are you talking about?" asked Mrs. Ketchum. Professor Juniper handed Mrs. Ketchum the folder that she skimmed over. Mrs. Ketchum saw what Professor Juniper was talking about; the struggles in protecting Mewtwo, Celebi and Latios from the evil clutches of Team Rocket. Only one of those Pokémon had died during the battles against Team Rocket and seemed to be a painful memory for Ash. Mrs. Ketchum read on and saw the struggles that Ash and I struggled with against Teams Aqua and Magma, the incident at the Battle Tower with Deyxos and Rayquaza, our little detour to the Tree of Life and of course when I adopted Manaphy as my own "child."

Mrs. Ketchum kept reading on into when Ash went to the Sinnoh region. From the look on her face Mrs. Ketchum was worried when she saw how Ash got involved in the fight against Team Galactic; there were also separate incidents in which I wasn't involved in. Well, the only struggle I was involved in was the final battle with Team Galactic. To be honest I was surprised to see Jessie, James and Meowth willing to set aside their quest to capture Pikachu just take down a group of people they considered to be "fashion freaks."

Mrs. Ketchum closed the folder and gave it back to Professor Juniper as she examined Pikachu for any problems. For her, it was hard to take in all that she saw in the folder. She knew that her son was a strong trainer, but she had no idea that Ash faced danger many times and came out on top. Man, I'm getting distracted again. Once Professor Juniper was done examining Pikachu, one of her assistants came into room and informed her that a new trainer had just arrived. So Ash and I followed Professor Juniper into the lobby of her laboratory and trainer taking pictures with a camera.

"Hi there, you must be the new trainer," Professor Juniper said to the new trainer as he put his camera away.

"My name's Trip," said the trainer with an emotionless glare on his face.

"Well Trip we have three starter Pokémon for you choose from," said Professor Juniper as one of her assistants came into the room with a cart that had three Pokeballs on it.

Professor Juniper grabbed a Pokeball and continued, "Here's Oshawott, a water type." The Pokeball opened to reveal a blue otter Pokémon with a shell on its chest.

"Ah, it's so cute!" I exclaimed as I saw Oshawott.

'_I thought I was cute_,' whined Manaphy as he rubbed his cheek on mine trying to get my attention.

I took Manaphy off my shoulder and him a peck kiss on his forehead and said sweetly, "You're always cute." Manaphy smiled and hugged me before getting back on my shoulder. Trip just looked at me and went back to looking at the other two starters.

"This is Snivy and he's a grass type," said Professor Juniper as she let out a green snake-like Pokémon with legs and arms. Trip took a look at Snivy but didn't say anything but waited for Professor Juniper to show the next Pokémon.

"Finally this is Tepig, a fire type Pokémon," finished Professor Juniper as she tossed the final Pokeball and revealed a small red pig Pokémon.

"Wow so these are the starter Pokémon you get here?" Ash asked with enthusiasm.

Trip produced his camera again and took photos of the three starters and made his decision.

"Alright I've made my decision," said Trip as he put his camera away. "I'll take Snivy." Oshawott was shocked that he had been rejected by another trainer. Poor thing, I felt sorry for the little guy. Professor Juniper then gave Trip a Pokedex and five Pokeballs for him to start his journey with. As always with Ash, he was eager to challenge the new trainer. Trip saw our Pokémon and wondered what they were; so he produced his Pokedex and pointed it at Pikachu first.

"Pikachu, the electric mouse Pokémon," said Trip's Pokedex. "The evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu collects electric energy in its cheeks and releases it when necessary.

"Manaphy, the seafaring Pokémon," chimed Trip's Pokedex as Trip pointed his Pokedex at Manaphy. "Manaphy is known to travel the oceans and return to their nesting grounds."

"Hey do you know where I can find a Manaphy like yours?" Trip asked me.

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you," I answered Trip cautiously. "I'm sorry but I can't help you."

"Well, excuse me Miss High and Mighty," sassed Trip.

"May, it's not like he's gonna look for Samiya and steal the Sea Crown," Ash said sarcastically to me.

"Huh, what are you two talking about?" interrupted Trip. "I'm not interested in any treasures. I just wanted to know where I can find Manaphy so I can catch one."

"You can't catch them in the wild," I said to Trip. "You see Manaphy found me in a dream and then hatched from an egg that a Pokémon Ranger was supposed to take to Samiya, the Sea Temple."

"Thank you," said Trip, "that's all I wanted to know."

"I'm sorry about being rude," I said to Trip as I slightly bowed to him.

"It's no problem," said Trip. "I can understand if you're protecting that Pokémon on your shoulder; but you don't need to act high and mighty."

"So do you still want to battle me?" Ash asked Trip as he changed the subject with a grin on his face.

"Why not," answered Trip.

The battle didn't end well for Ash and poor Pikachu as he couldn't use his Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle attacks. Ash and I tried think of why Pikachu couldn't use his electric attacks.

"Why don't you go back and start at the basics," taunted Trip. Ash didn't give an answer but picked up Pikachu and took him back to Professor Juniper while I stayed behind and watched Trip start to walk away until he turned back asked me, "Since I crushed that kid from the boonies why not face me; I'm sure you'll be more of a challenge then him."

I was furious when Trip said those awful things about Ash.

"Fine I accept your challenge," I said as Trip and I went back to the battle field.

"Alright Snivy, let's make it two wins in row," said Trip as Snivy came out of its Pokeball.

"Go Manaphy," I said as Manaphy leapt off my shoulder and onto the battle field. "Take the stage!"

'_Alright_!' exclaimed Manaphy.

"Using a Water-type against a Grass-type," taunted Trip. "You're from the boonies like Ash. Snivy use Leaf Tornado and end the battle quickly." Snivy whipped up a vicious tornado of leaves and was about to hit Manaphy.

"Manaphy use Ice Beam and then use Psychic," I ordered Manaphy.

Manaphy complied with an Ice Beam attack that was shattered by Manaphy's Psychic attack, making shards of ice that pierced through Snivy's Leaf Tornado.

"Manaphy, use Ice Beam one more time," I said to Manaphy as Trip and his Snivy were left speechless by my combination attack. Snivy then got struck and frozen by Manaphy's Ice Beam.

"It looks like I win," I said to Trip as Manaphy came back to me and leapt into my arms.

Trip didn't say anything but recalled his Snivy and ran off gritting his teeth.

'She's good for someone from the boonies,' thought Trip as he ran away.

"If you think Ash and I are from the boonies, you're wrong," I said to Trip with stern voice. "I'm from the Hoenn region and Ash is from Kanto."

"Never heard of those regions," Trip said as he walked away. "But tell him next time don't rely on his girlfriend to bail him out."

I just glared at Trip and went back into the lab where Ash was waiting to find out what was wrong with Pikachu. I walked in as Professor Juniper explained what happened to Pikachu.

"It seems that Pikachu experienced an electrical overload," explained Professor Juniper.

"You mean can't ever use electric attacks ever again?" Ash asked I noticed the same black clouds approaching the lab and causing another storm. During the chaotic storm, Pikachu was affected by the thunder that struck the antenna on the roof of the laboratory.

"It can't be!" exclaimed Professor Juniper as her eyes widened as she recognized the black clouds from distant memories. "It must be Zekrom."

"Zekrom?" asked Ash in confusion.

"Zekrom is a legendary Pokémon that is said to watch over all Unova in the black clouds that it rides," explained Professor Juniper. "It's said that its thunderbolts are a form of judgment."

Before Professor Juniper's assistant could reboot the computer system, the storm ended we saw blue skies once again. We saw that Pikachu looked happy once again.

"Are you feeling better?" Ash asked Pikachu.

'_Yeah_!' exclaimed Pikachu.

"Alright, but let's make sure," said Ash as he was being cautious. "Pikachu use your Thunderbolt on me."

I became alarmed when Ash told Pikachu use his Thunderbolt on him; I protested with Ash but he said that he was used to getting shocked by Pikachu. Pikachu used his Thunderbolt on Ash as it worked perfectly and was more powerful than before.

"Alright Pikachu, use your Volt Tackle on me," Ash ordered Pikachu much to mine and his mother's displeasure. Pikachu charged at Ash and struck him with his Volt Tackle as Ash doubled back and slammed back into the wall.

"Ash, are you okay?" I asked Ash in alarm as I ran to his side and held him in my arms.

"He's still got it," said Ash avoiding my question still feeling a bit of static electricity.

"Are you okay?" I asked Ash again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Ash as he gathered his bearings and got off the floor.

"Well if you're going to challenge the Unova League then you'll need to head to Striaton City," Professor Juniper said to Ash before turning to me. "I think there might be a contest in Accumula Town. Good luck to both of you as start your Unova journey. Here's a Pokédex and Pokéballs for both of you."

"Thank you," I said to Professor Juniper as I slightly bowed to her. "And don't worry we will."

Ash hugged his mother goodbye as did I before we set out on our Unova journey.


	4. Chapter 4

4: Enter Iris and May's First Contest Ribbon

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Nintendo owns it; I am just borrowing the characters and elements.

Ash and I set from Nuvema Town towards Accumula Town where I could possibly register for the Unova contests, if they had contests for May to compete in. Ash was definitely eager to catch his first Pokémon from the Unova region. 'Any trainer would be happy when they catch their first Pokémon,' I thought as I smiled at Ash while he tried to figure out what type of Pokémon he wanted to catch.

'_Mama_,_ is Papa alright_?' Manaphy asked me as he looked worried about Ash.

"Oh, he gets like that when he wants to catch Pokémon," I answered Manaphy as I briefly looked at him on my shoulder. "You should know that."

Ash was definitely like a kid in a candy store with all the Pokémon around us. As Ash was looking around, both of us heard a rustling in bushes to our left.

"I wonder if there's a Pokémon in the bushes," said Ash as he pulled out his Pokédex.

Ash's Pokédex identified a Pokémon called Axew in the bushes. Typical of Ash, he threw a Pokéball in the bushes and heard someone say "Ouch," in the process. The person who came out of the bush was a young girl, a few years younger than Ash and I. She had long hair going in almost different directions, had dark skin and certainly had a lot of energy like Ash usually has, if not more, when we travel.

"I'm sorry," Ash said to the girl, "I thought you were a Pokémon."

"Does this face look like a Pokémon to you?" the girl asked Ash before switching her gaze to Pikachu. "Wow a Pikachu! You don't find one of those in the wild here in the Unova region." The girl grabbed Pikachu off of Ash's shoulder and was hugging him almost to death. Pikachu normally loved the attention from pretty girls that always hugged him and even gave him the occasional peck kiss on his forehead; but this girl was a different story. It wasn't even two minutes when poor Pikachu shocked the girl just get her to let him go. Once she let him go, Pikachu went back to Ash's side leapt back on Ash's shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that," the girl said to Ash. "By the way my name is Iris and this is my Pokémon Axew."

'_Hi_,_ nice to meet you_,' said Axew as he popped out of his hiding spot in Iris's hair.

"I noticed you have a Pokémon on your shoulder too," Iris said to me as she noticed Manaphy on my shoulder. "What Pokémon is that?"

"This is Manaphy," I answered as I took Manaphy off my shoulder and in my arms. "He's a very special Pokémon in my life."

"Love you… mama," Manaphy said to me as he hugged me.

"Wow he's really talented," Iris said as she tried to take Manaphy from me. Manaphy clung to me and began to cry.

"I'm sorry but Manaphy doesn't want you to hold him," I informed Iris as I calmed Manaphy down. "He's very picky about who he allows to hold him. I'm one of the people who can hold him."

"Well of course **you** can hold him," said Iris, "you're his trainer."

"I'm more than his trainer," I said to Iris after calming Manaphy down. "I'm his mother."

"His mother?" Iris asked me in confusion.

'_Mother_?' asked Axew, also confused.

"Uh huh," I answered. "Manaphy hatched from an egg and he saw me as his mother."

"Wow," said Iris with a small hint of envy.

"Where are our manners, Ash?" I asked Ash as I lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh right," said Ash as he rubbed his head. "My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto region."

"My name is May," I said to Iris. "I'm from Petalburg City in the Hoenn region."

"I've never heard of those regions," said Iris as she scratched her head trying to think if she had heard of those regions before. "Nope, I haven't heard of those regions before."

"That's okay," I said with a gentle smile.

"Hey, I know why not travel with me," suggested Iris. "I mean think about it, you don't know you're way around the Unova region and you'll need a guide."

"Sure why not," replied Ash with a big grin on his face.

I pulled Ash aside to talk him privately.

"Ash are you sure we should travel with her?" I asked him with a concerned look on my face.

Ash put his hand on my cheek and said, "I don't think she's the kind of girl who would want to try and drive wedge between us. Besides I think we'll need some help here in the Unova region and Iris is offering to help us out.

"Besides, you know I love you and that won't change at all," finished Ash as he gave me a peck kiss on my forehead.

"Alright Ash, I trust you," I said to Ash as I gave him a peck kiss on his cheek before walking back to Iris.

"If you're willing to help us then we'll be glad to accept any help you can give us," I said to Iris.

"I'd be happy to be a guide for you," Iris said with a big smile on her face. "And so would Axew."

'_Yup_,' agreed Axew.

The three of us began making our way to Accumula Town so I could register for contests in the Unova region.

"So why are you two here?" Iris asked Ash and I.

"I'm here for the Unova Pokémon League," Ash answered Iris with enthusiasm.

"I'm here to participate in contests," I said to Iris. "I'm a Pokémon Coordinator and I'd like to try my hand in another region."

"Well, I don't think we have contests here in Unova," said Iris as she scratched her head. "Besides I don't think anyone here has ever of Pokémon Coordinators."

I secretly hoped that Iris was wrong about there not being any contests in the Unova. As we made our way to Accumula Town, we encountered a deer Pokémon that looked cute.

"I wonder what kind of Pokémon that is," I said as Ash pulled out his Pokédex.

'Deerling, the season Pokémon,' reported Ash's Pokédex. 'When the seasons change this Pokémon changes its fur to indicate the change of season.'

"Hey Manaphy if Ash is going to catch Pokémon from Unova, then we need to new Pokémon too," I said to Manaphy on my shoulder.

'_Yeah_, _we can_'_t let Papa and Pikachu catch more than us_,' Manaphy said to me. I smiled as Manaphy gave and I gave each other a slight nod as we moved to take action.

"Alright Manaphy, take the stage," I said as Manaphy leapt off my shoulder.

The Deerling noticed me and Manaphy as we faced it.

"Manaphy, use Water Pulse," I ordered Manaphy.

"What, why are you using Water Pulse on Deerling?" Iris asked me in a sarcastic tone. "Deerling is a Grass-type."

"Part Normal, part Grass," said Relena as she approached the battlefield from Nuvema Town. "So that should give an idea of what to expect here in the Unova region. There also new abilities you guys should be aware of as well."

I took my eye off the Deerling for a second and then went back to the battle. The Water Pulse attack connected with the Deerling and caused the Deerling to be confused. The Deerling charged at Manaphy with a Tackle attack and missed due to Manaphy's quickness. However the confusion didn't last long as the Deerling shook off the confusion from Manaphy's Water Pulse. It then launched a seed at Manaphy.

"I don't like the look of that seed Manaphy," I told Manaphy. "Use your Psychic attack and send it back at Deerling."

Manaphy concentrated on the seed and sent it back at Deerling causing it latch on to Deerling.

"I'm guessing that was Leech Seed," I said as I dug into my memory of Pokémon attacks.

"Wow, that's correct," said Iris until she noticed Deerling starting to glow from being hit by its own Leech Seed. "Uh oh that's not good."

I noticed Deerling glowing as well and asked Iris, "That isn't Overgrow is it?"

"No," answered Iris, "Snivy has Overgrow; that's Deerling's Sap Sipper."

"Sap Sipper?" asked Ash in confusion.

"When Deerling are hit by Grass moves," explained Iris, "their attack rises. So when your Manaphy sent Deerling's Leech Seed back at it, the Leech Seed caused Deerling's attack to rise."

Deerling struggled to get up on its feet and charged at Manaphy with its Tackle attack. Its Tackle attack connected as Manaphy took a hard hit but got back up his feet.

"Manaphy use Ice Beam," I said to Manaphy. Manaphy used his Ice Beam and connected as Deerling collapsed from having its health sapped from its own Leech Seed.

"Go Pokéball!" I said as I threw a Pokéball at Deerling. Deerling went in the Pokéball and struggled to get out but was too tired to get out because of the Leech Seed.

"We did it Manaphy!" I exclaimed as Manaphy leapt into my arms and hugged me.

Relena then walked over to both of us and gave us a little gift.

"Here take these Pokéballs," Relena said as she gave different types of Pokéballs.

"What kind of Pokéballs are these?" asked Ash as he looked at the Blue and yellow Pokéballs and an all red Pokéball.

"These Pokéballs are called Quick Balls," answered Relena. "These Pokéballs can be used to catch Pokémon without having to battle them; but they have to be used at the start of the battle. The all red Pokéball is called a Cherish Ball; this Pokéball is used to commemorate an event of some sort."

"Wow thanks," I said as I accepted the new Pokéballs from Relena.

"Hold on, what kind event?" asked Ash.

Relena just smiled and answered, "Any kind of event you can think of."

After a while, Ash finally caught his first Pokémon, Pidove, a flying Pokémon. I certainly felt the same joy with him when he caught Pidove and also when Manaphy and I caught Deerling. Team Rocket tried again to steal Pikachu from Ash but once again my little Manaphy got caught in the middle of their attempt to steal Pikachu and Axew. Jessie and James saw what they had done and tried to release Manaphy while keeping Pikachu and Axew inside their glass cage. Once again I instilled fear into the trio as I tried to send blasting off again. But before either I or Pikachu could deliver the strike that would send them blasting off into the sunset, they escaped through a smokescreen trick and left without taking Pikachu, Axew or Manaphy. I guess in a way we were lucky that Team Rocket got out of our business for the time being.

We kept going until we reached Accumula Town and got to a Pokémon Center. Both Ash and I noticed that the Nurse Joy here in Unova looked younger and had a different Pokémon at her side. Unova sure is different for Ash and I. I asked Nurse Joy if the Unova region had contests. She replied that the Unova region did have contests and I signed up both Ash and I for the contests. Relena signed up for the contests too just to join in the fun.

"Why did you sign Ash up for the contests?" Relena asked me with a small cringe on her face. "Don't you think that he's gonna flip when you tell him that he's gonna participate in the contests too?"

"Oh I'll just give him my patented Growlithe puppy dog eyes and he'll agree," I said to Relena as I demonstrated my Growlithe puppy dog eyes.

Relena gave me a big grin on her face as she waved me towards Ash. I was confident that Ash would agree without having to resort to my backup plan which consisted of charming Ash with my cute Growlithe puppy dog eyes.

"Are you signed up for the Unova contests?" asked Ash as I handed him a ribbon case.

"Yup," I answered him as innocently as I could be. "I also signed you up too for the contests."

Ash's smile faded when I told him that I signed him up for the Unova contests with me.

"But I want to go for the Unova Pokémon League," protested Ash.

Before Ash could protest any further, I gave him my Growlithe puppy dog eyes as he tried to look away. Pikachu was able to convince him to agree into joining me in the Unova contests; unfortunately Pikachu took a direct approach to convincing him which was… with a shocking appeal.

"[Cough] Alright, I'll join you in the Unova Pokémon Contests," said Ash before collapsing with small traces of electricity surging around his body.

"Thank you Ash," I said as I knelt at his side and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Love you too, May," stammered Ash as the effects of Pikachu's 'convincing' were warring off.

"Pikachu, you didn't need to be that hard on Ash," I said to Pikachu as he came to my side.

'_I know_,_ but I_'_d certainly like to be in a contest again_,' said Pikachu.

"I'm sure you do," I said to Pikachu as motioned for him sit on my lap so I could pet him. "But it doesn't mean that you need to use force on Ash."

After getting registered for the Unova contests, Ash, Iris and I settled down in the Pokémon center for the night unaware that for Ash and I , our unique knack for getting involved with battling crime rings had found us once again. Perhaps I can make a long story short. While I was in the Johto region, I had numerous battles against Team Rocket and all the goons and thieves they hired to cause chaos and steal rare Pokémon for themselves. Like Ash, I got to see the Legendary Pokémon of the Johto region and had a couple of them come to my aid during my missions for the Pokémon Rangers. Ash and I slept in the same bed together as I didn't want to sleep separate from Ash. I missed Ash after being away from him for almost a year and I wasn't going leave him ever again.

It was hard for me to sleep as I kept hearing the cry of a Pokémon that felt lonely. I woke from my sleep and noticed the silhouette of a small Pokémon with pointy ears and glowing blue eyes. The Pokémon turned and saw me with Manaphy in my arms while we were both asleep and I guess it felt envious. Then I then heard the Pokémon's voice inside my head.

'Do you think you could let me in and help me feel safe?' the Pokémon asked me through telepathy.

I woke up and noticed the Pokémon floating outside the window and shook Ash awake.

"Ash, wake up" I urged Ash as I gently shook him awake.

"What is it May," Ash asked me as he rubbed his eyes.

"There's a Pokémon outside," I answered as I got down from the bunk Ash and I were sleeping on.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked me as I sprinted out the bedroom.

As I exited the Pokémon Center, Iris woke up and noticed that I went searching for something. She got down from the branch she was sleeping on and followed me.

"What's wrong May?" Iris asked me as she was behind me.

"I heard a Pokémon calling out to me," I answered.

"A Pokémon?" asked Iris in confusion. "Do you know what kind of Pokémon it was?"

"It had pointy ears and glowing blue eyes," I answered as I described the Pokémon to the best of my ability.

"Was it small, medium, or big?" asked Iris.

"It was small… I think," I answered.

"Wow, you must've seen Victini!" exclaimed Iris.

"Victini?" I asked Iris in confusion. "Who's that?"

"Victini is a legendary Pokémon that's said to bring victory to anyone it sees fit," answered Iris. "But hardly anyone sees Victini. A story goes that an old man built a place for Victini to stay and it's been staying there ever since."

"Poor thing," I said softly, "I bet it never got let out much."

'You can say that again,' Victini said through telepathy again. 'I did enjoy living there, but I hardly ever got out to stretch and get some fresh air.'

"Huh?" asked Iris dumbfounded.

'Please help me,' Victini said in desperation as it showed me and Iris to where it was. 'There are evil humans that are chasing me.'

"Come back here you little runt!" demanded a person wearing a weird outfit.

'Go away, I don't want to go with you,' Victini told the weird person.

To tell you the truth I thought they were like Team Galactic, as Jessie would put them, fashion freaks. The weirdoes spotted us as did Victini as it made its way toward me, latching onto my left ankle and hid behind me where it thought it was safe from the weird people.

"Hand over Victini or we'll take it from you by force," ordered the lead weirdo.

'I don't want to go with them,' said Victini as it clung tightly to my left ankle. 'Please don't give me over to them.'

"Sorry but he said that he doesn't want to go with you," I told the weirdoes.

"Then as members of Team Plasma, we will take him by force," the lead weirdo said with authority, "and we'll take your Pokémon as well."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," I countered as I readied my Pokéball. "Go Deerling."

This lead to a battle as Ash, Pikachu and Manaphy finally arrived and helped me put down the weirdoes.

"What took you so long?" I asked Ash.

"Sorry about that," answered Ash before noticing Victini. "Hey cool, a Pokémon!"

Ash pulled out his Pokédex and focused it at Victini.

'Victini, the Victory Pokémon,' chirped Ash's Pokédex. 'Victini is said to bring victory to those it desires.'

'What thing won't tell you is that I'm very friendly and playful,' said Victini. 'I'm especially good with kids too.

'Please take me with you,' Victini asked me as he let go of my ankle. 'I saw you with that blue Pokémon and I felt that I wanted to feel loved.'

"Are sure that's what you want?" I asked Victini.

'Yes, I'm sure that's what I want,' answered Victini. 'I have a feeling that you'll need me in the long run. I know this region and it's Pokémon like back of my hand.'

"Alright then," I said as I went and got the Cherish Ball Relena gave me.

After I came back out with the Cherish Ball Relena gave me, Victini hurried over and jumped toward the Cherish Ball touching the button to put the Pokémon in it.

"This will commemorate our friendship forming together," I said to Victini as the Cherish Ball opened and took in Victini. The Cherish Ball shook three times and made a confirmation click that Victini was caught. I let Victini out of the Cherish Ball and he had a big smile on his face as he latched on to my leg.

'You won't regret making this decision,' Victini told me. 'I promise to work hard and help you in any way I can.'

"I know you will," I replied to Victini with a gentle smile on my face. "How about if you introduce yourself to your two teammates." I put Manaphy on ground for him to introduce himself to Victini and let out Deerling so she too introduce herself to Victini.

'Hi there everybody I'm Victini it's nice to meet you,' said Victini as he bowed to his teammates.

Manaphy was cautious at first then extended a hand out Victini as they both shook hands.

'I hope we can be friends,' Victini said to Manaphy with a big smile on his face.

'_Okay_,' Manaphy said to Victini nervously.

"Welcome everyone to the Accumula Town Pokémon Contest!" said the male contest MC. "We have a good turn out today as well as three surprise contestants from different regions." The crowd roared with excitement as the contest about to begin. The MC introduced the three judges: a leading authority on Pokémon contests in the Unova region, the president of the Unova region's Pokémon fan club and Nurse Joy from the Accumula Town's Pokémon Center.

"Let's get things under way with our first performance," the MC said as he introduced Relena for the first time. "Our first competitor is a big time Pokémon Ranger, champion of the three Pokémon leagues and a bright Pokémon Coordinator known as DJ Coordinator. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Relena Kaiou!"

Relena gave a slight bow as she pulled out a leaf and began to play a song that called out her Celebi. Once Celebi came out, Relena pulled out her music player with a portable stereo that she attached to the music player. The music player began playing some techno music that Celebi began to dance its routine to. Many people went nuts and a few tried to match Celebi's dance routine minus the Psychic, Magical Leaf, and Shadow Ball attacks. Once Celebi's performance was complete, the audience gave a huge ovation for Celebi and Relena as both of them bowed at the same time.

"Wow, now that's some creative thinking for a Pokémon Coordinator," the MC said as he turned to the judges. "Now let's see what judges think."

"Truly remarkable," said the expert. "I don't think I've ever seen a performance like this one."

"Wonderful creativity on the part of the Coordinator to showcase Celebi's cuteness and appeal," said the Pokémon fan club's president.

"This performance also shows that the Coordinator definitely keeps her Pokémon fit and healthy as well," added Nurse Joy. "I should also add that the crowd got a real treat to see Celebi here in a Unova Pokémon contest." The other two judges agreed with Nurse Joy with her last statement; seeing Celebi in a Pokémon contest in the Unova region was a unique treat for anyone there. Different contestants made their appeals with the native Unova Pokémon until it came for me to take the stage.

"Manaphy, I wanna see how well Victini does in a contest, okay?" I asked Manaphy.

'_Will I be in the contest_?' asked Manaphy.

"Of course you will," I assured Manaphy. "Mama's never broken a promise to you, has she?"

Manaphy's face brightened as I asked him that question; he knew I never broke a promise to him. Manaphy gave me a nod and leapt on Ash's right shoulder.

"Good luck May," Ash said to me as I headed out to the stage.

"For our next contestant," began the MC, "we have a Coordinator who happens to be a big time celebrity in the three regions of Hoen, Kanto and Johto. Please put your hands together for the Princess of Hoen herself, May Haruka!"

I didn't know that my parents, Ash's mother and some of our friends were watching the contest I was participating in.

"Now Victini, take the stage," I said much to the surprise of the audience, judges and to people watching on their television sets.

"Wow folks!" exclaimed the contest MC. "This is truly a treat to see two legendary Pokémon in one contest."

"Now Victini use Shadow Ball," I told Victini.

'Oh yeah!' exclaimed Victini as he produced several Shadow Balls and shot them as we planned.

"Alright Victini use Flamethrower and surround the Shadow Balls," I instructed Victini.

Victini used his Flamethrower and surrounded each Shadow Ball.

'Next,' said a confident Victini.

"Now finish up with a twirling Psychic attack," I said to Victini.

'Yes people, Celebi isn't the only Pokémon that can dance,' Victini added as he used his Psychic attack to bring the flaming Shadow Balls to him and caused an explosion of bright colors and Victini landed gracefully on my head with a big smile on his face.

"That was truly remarkable," said the expert. "Victini seems to have won the hearts of the audience with its charm and appeal."

"Another graceful performance," said the Pokémon fan club president. "I'm starting to see why she's known as the Princess of Hoen."

"I think if this contest could be decided by charm and cuteness," began Nurse Joy, "I would definitely declare Victini the winner."

"There you have it folks," the MC said to the audience and TV viewers. "Wonderful praise for the Princess of Hoen and Victini."

'Thank you, thank you, you're too kind,' Victini said as he acted like an actor using his charm as he left the stage.

Many of the girls and young women became infatuated

"Don't get too cocky Victini, we haven't won the contest yet," I cautioned Victini as he got on my shoulder.

'Oh I have a feeling we'll win,' Victini told me as he dropped down to my right shoulder.

"That was a good performance May," Ash said to me as he and Pikachu made their way to the stage and perform.

"Thanks Ash," I said to Ash. "Good luck to both of you."

'Yeah, go get 'em Pikachu,' Victini said to Pikachu with enthusiasm

'_You got it_,' responded Pikachu.

"Our last contestant is a champion Pokémon trainer from the Kanto region who has just recently won the Sinoh League tournament," began the contest MC. "He also has defeated the Orange Crew in the Orange Islands, two top eight finishes in the Silver Conference and Hoen Pokémon League and a finish in the top sixteen in the Kanto Pokémon League. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ash Ketchum."

"Alright Pikachu, let's go!" exclaimed Ash.

'_Yeah_!' exclaimed Pikachu with enthusiasm.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack then use Thunderbolt," ordered Ash.

Pikachu showed off his Quick Attack and used his Thunderbolt that trailed him with the Quick Attack.

"Wonderful! Fantastic!" exclaimed the contest MC.

"Now use Thunderbolt again and Iron Tail," Ash told Pikachu as I remembered an old combo Ash pulled in a contest a year and a half ago.

Pikachu used Thunderbolt to form rings that Pikachu swatted around with his Iron Tail. Pikachu finished up his routine by knocking the thunder rings upward as they gathered together exploded outward by forming a cage of thunderbolts that dissipated after fifteen seconds.

"Well judges, what do you think?" the contest MC asked the judges.

"It was a wonderful display of power and appeal," responded the contest expert.

"Pikachu certainly knows how to put on a performance," said the Unova Pokémon fan club president.

"Pikachu is certainly a healthy Pokémon and I can see how the trainer is a champion," added Nurse Joy.

"Well there you have it," said contest MC. "Those were remarkable statements about the last contestant. Now the judges will decide on who will advance to the next round."

After an hour and a half, Ash and I were selected to move on to the second round of the contest, the battling round of the contest. Ash and I were set in different brackets for the battle round; but we practically swept the competition aside until it was down to Ash and I. Like I promised Manaphy, I decided to have him fight in the battle round. Manaphy was just as cute as Victini in the appeals process as he showed his toughness in battle. Ash used Pikachu again instead of his Pidove in the battle round. I cringed as I saw sweep his competition with Pikachu and hoped I could overcome him with Manaphy despite having a type disadvantage. Relena was in same area as Ash and seemed to give Ash a fight he never forgot. Ash couldn't break through Relena and her Gardevoir, Michiru, since they had a hard time having to deal with Michiru's Synchronize ability every time Pikachu either paralyzed by contact or from a secondary effect. Once Ash was knocked out in the semi-final match, the final match was between me and Relena.

"We have winner!" exclaimed the contest MC. "After Miss Kaiou ran out points, from a fierce battle, the Princess of Hoen, May is our winner. Victini and Manaphy are a real winning team."

Relena shook hands with me as the contest MC gave my first Unova contest ribbon and now I need four more ribbons to participate in the Unova Grand Festival. I wonder if any of my rivals will come to the Unova region to challenge me. Our next stop is Striaton City so Ash can get his first badge.

"That was a great performance," Iris said to me. "And it's hard to believe that I just saw a Pokémon contest."

"Yup," said Relena, "and there will be more contests in the future for the three of us here in the Unova region."

After the contest was finished, we left Accumula Town and head Striaton City for Ash's gym badge.


	5. Chapter 5

Please keep up the reviews and leave comments and suggestions to help improve the story. Thank you, NEBSparky86

5: Travelling to Striaton City and Ash's First Gym Battle

Before we left Accumula Town, I got mobbed by people who asked for my autograph after winning the Accumula Town Pokémon Contest. I happily signed some autographs and went with Ash to the Pokémon Battle Club following a suggestion Iris told him about. When we got there we were met by group of men who all called themselves Don. It was a bit of nostalgia to hear that they shared the same first name; then again seeing different Nurse Joys and Officer Jennies in all the regions Ash and I were in. We dealt with a little problem with food disappearing from the storehouse as Ash caught the thief, a Tepig, as his own Pokémon. Ash was very happy to have Tepig as one of his Pokémon.

The four of us headed to Striation City for Ash's first gym badge. Ash tried to ask Relena what the gym in Striaton City was like, but she wouldn't give Ash an answer and told him to wait until he got there. On the way there we stopped a few times so Relena could meet with Pokémon contacts as part of her intelligence network she established here in the Unova region. Iris asked Relena why she set up an intelligence network consisting of Pokémon rather than humans. I remember her answer as she gave me and Max the same answer she gave Iris.

"I trust Pokémon to give me proper information rather than humans," answered Relena. "I can understand and speak to Pokémon better than I can with humans."

'_Isn_'_t that kind of harsh to say_?' Axew asked Relena popping out of Iris's hair.

"I know it's harsh to say that I don't trust humans," began Relena as she gently rubbed Axew's right cheek much to his delight, "but for me, it's a preference to rely on Pokémon for information."

'I've never known a fellow Pokémon to lie at all,' commented Victini from my right shoulder.

"I can agree with that," I said as I remember that I had relied on Relena's intelligence network while I was in Johto. "They helped me stay out of trouble and cause a lot of trouble for Team Rocket in the Johto."

Along the way we encountered a little Oshawott that somehow had been following us from Nuvema Town. He was that poor little Oshawott that got rejected by Trip at Professor Juniper's lab. When I looked back and saw him, I knew it was the same little Oshawott from the lab and decided to keep it to myself and not tell Ash or Iris. Trying to hide stuff from Relena was trying to hide a Mightyena in a pack of Growlithe, no can ever hide anything from her unless she wasn't interested in what you were hiding; so I told Relena on the side.

Oshawott finally caught up with us after helping us defeat Team Rocket on the way to Accumula Town. Iris thought that Oshawott wanted to be her Pokémon but after a brief tiff with Pikachu on who would be on Ash's shoulder, Pikachu regained his spot on Ash's shoulder. Ash thought that Oshawott was a wild Pokémon and threw a Pokéball at him. Only when Oshawott didn't go in the Pokéball did Ash realize that Oshawott was from Professor Juniper's lab. Once Ash made the stunning revelation, we bolted for the nearest Pokémart to talk to Professor Juniper about Oshawott following us from Nuvema Town.

"So that's where Oshawott went to," Professor Juniper summarized after Ash explained what happened with Oshawott. "Why not take Oshawott with you since he seems to like you. I'm sending you his Pokéball right now."

"Thanks Professor Juniper," said Ash as he received Oshawott's Pokéball from the transporter.

"Just make sure you keep an eye on Oshawott; he likes to run off," cautioned Professor Juniper before she noticed that I had Victini on my left shoulder. "How did you get Victini? Victini is rarely seen at all, but you already caught him."

"Well, I didn't really find him," I answered Professor Juniper, "he found me when we stopped at Accumula Town for the night and the contest."

"I see," said Professor Juniper with a smile. "Well both of you looked really good in the contest yesterday. Good luck to both of you in the contests and to you Ash in the gym battles."

"Thank you," both Ash and I said as we gave her a slight bow and ended the video phone call.

"Hey, where's Oshawott?" asked Ash as he frantically searched for his new Pokémon.

All of us ran outside and called for Oshawott but didn't hear from him. Iris still called Ash a kid as she offered to help him look for Oshawott. Ash just brushed past Iris, as did I so we could look for Oshawott. As we began to look for Oshawott, three of us fell into a hole that was dug by a four legged tan and black stripped Pokémon that wore sunglasses.

'_Trapped humans_,' observed the Pokémon before he walked away.

'_Ugh_,_ I hate this sense of déjà vu_,' said Pikachu as he looked to the sky.

'_I know what you mean_,' said Manaphy as he too remembered all the pitfalls that Team Rocket dug for us when they tried to steal our Pokémon.

We were helped out by a nice boy named Dan who let down some rope and pulled us out of the hole. He explained that a group of Pokémon called Sandile had caused his family's business to close down. The four of us went with the boy to his family's hotel and resort. Once we got there and began to help his family deal with the problem, the lead Sandile wearing sunglasses arrived to see Ash, Pikachu and Axew relaxing in the hot sand.

'Man, that must be real relaxing,' observed Victini as he got off my shoulder and joined Ash and the other Pokémon relaxing in the hot sand. 'Ah this is the life. No problems, no worries and no weirdoes trying to capture me.'

"Wow I can't believe you have Victini!" Dan exclaimed to me. "You're lucky to have such a rare and legendary Pokémon." Little did I know that Team Rocket was nearby as they would try one of their usual attempts to steal not only Pikachu but Victini would be in crossfire once they showed up. Call it Mother's intuition, but it seemed that I felt Team Rocket was nearby and Manaphy also felt uncomfortable too. Just as I walked towards Ash and warn him about my bad feeling, Team Rocket showed with another stupid contraption to steal Pokémon with. They snatched Pikachu, Oshawott, Axew and Victini.

'_Help me_!' cried Axew.

'_Ash_,' Pikachu called to Ash as he got out of the sand.

'I don't wanna go with these crazy humans,' Victini said to me as he struggled to free himself.

"Watch who you're calling 'crazy,'" snapped Jessie as she, James and Meowth go on the top of their contraption. "At any rate you're coming with us and you can't do anything about it." Before Team Rocket could start their stupid motto, their contraption started to sink forward because the group of Sandiles had dug underneath them and thanks to lead Sandile, Victini was free and hurried back to my shoulder.

'That was scary,' Victini said to me as he latched to my left arm and cried.

"Hand over that Pokémon!" snarled Jessie.

"If I won't let a group of Unova fashion freaks have Victini," I began, "then neither will you have Victini."

"Huh?" asked Meowth.

"What do you mean Unova fashion freaks?" Jessie asked me in curiosity.

"Is there another criminal group in the Unova region?" added James.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute," interjected Relena as she stepped forward and approached Team Rocket. "First, you try to take Pikachu, Axew, Victini and Oshawott and now you want information from us about what Intel we found? I don't think you're in a position to be demanding information from us."

"Why you," snarled Jessie as she started to lose control of her emotions.

"However I think we can work a deal that would be beneficial for both parties," said Relena as she crossed arms across her chest.

"What makes you think we want to work with you?" challenged James.

"Well we have a little bit of Intel on Unova's fashion freaks," began Relena, "and you seem to still be after Pikachu.

"If we provide you with Intel on the fashion freaks of Unova," finished Relena, "will you back off of trying to take Pikachu and our Pokémon from us?"

Jessie, James and Meowth looked at each other and chatted with each other to decide what they wanted to do now that their worst enemy had once again offered to work with them.

"We shouldn't be working with her again," Jessie whispered to James and Meowth. "I know she's helped us in the past, but we shouldn't be working with her again; the boss might find out and fire us."

"That's true," agreed James. "But I kinda owe her for helping me avoid marrying Jessibell against my will."

"Well, I guess we do owe her for a lot of things," relented Jessie. "Fine but once we kick these Unova fashion freaks out of business, all bets are off." James and Meowth gave a slight nod in agreement.

"I assume we have an accord," said Relena.

Team Rocket gave a slight nod to Relena after some considerable amount of discussing their options but said, "Once we get rid of the secret organization, all bets are off and we go back to trying to steal Pikachu and your other Pokémon."

"Fine," said Relena as she tossed them a folder of Intel she got from intelligence network around the Unova region. "That's all the Intel I got from my sources and it's sketchy at best."

"We'll take what you can give us," Meowth said cool and calmly. "Thanks twerp girl."

Relena just gave them a nod and we finished the struggle like it was business as usual. Team Rocket escaped from their sparking device and got before Pikachu could use his Thunderbolt and send them blasting off. The Sandile went back to dealing with they believed to be a huge problem.

"What problem is there?" Relena asked the lead Sandile.

'_The geyser is unstable_,' the lead Sandile answered Relena. '_We_'_ve been trying to warn the humans but they think all we are doing is causing trouble for their_… _oh what do you humans say_?'

"Uh a business?" asked Relena.

'_Yeah_,_ their business_,' said the lead Sandile. Relena then put a hand on the ground to feel the ground and the water underneath it.

"The Sandile are right," Relena informed us, "the geyser is unstable and it's liable to make the situation worse." Then we noticed a group Pokémon that had been herded together by the Sandile.

'They look afraid,' observed Victini as we all saw the Pokémon gathered together. Victini got off my shoulder and talked with the Sandile and their leader after the geyser created an island that trapped the Pokémon the Sandile tried to save.

All of the Sandile formed bridge for the trapped Pokémon to cross. Unfortunately, the Pokémon were scared to cross but Ash and Victini assured them that they would make it across. With that encouragement, the trapped Pokémon made their way across the Sandile made bridge with Ash and Victini following behind them. Ash sent Victini back across the bridge and followed right behind when the geyser erupted and was about hit until Oshawott intercepted the geyser with his Water Gun and almost fell in the boiling water had Relena not caught him. I rushed on Sandile made bridge and grabbed Ash before the island boiled away. Once Ash was safe, the Sandile's leader pulled his comrades and us up with everything he had and they finally collapsed out of exhaustion with every Sandile accounted for and Ash broke my fall.

We returned to the hotel resort and found that the hot sand had disappeared and in its place was water from the geyser. As a reward for helping deal with the misunderstanding with the Sandile, we were allowed to relax for the night. The next morning, all four of us headed to Striaton City for Ash's first Gym Badge. Along the way, Ash decided to train his Pokémon before hitting the gym and getting his first badge. After Ash and I had enough in the forest, we headed into Striaton City and went directly to the Pokémon Center and healed our Pokémon. Ash got himself registered for the Unova League while I played with Manaphy and Victini. Little did I know that Ash was going to make me regret signing him up for the Unova contests.

"Are you signed up for the Unova League?" I asked Ash as I smiled at him.

"Yup," answered Ash, "and so are you. I signed you up for the Unova League too." I froze in shock by what Ash did.

"I guess since you signed him up for the Unova contests, that is was only fair that he sign you up for the Unova League," suggested Relena.

Ash kissed me on my forehead and said, "Don't worry I'm sure you'll do great. I mean if I can do it four times in a row, then I'm sure you can do it as well." Then I kissed Ash again with Iris and Axew having a disgusted look on their faces.

"Oh, get a room," Iris said as she looked away from us being lovey-dovey.

'_Yeah_,' agreed Axew.

Ash and I smiled as we said, "Okay, we will get a room."

Iris and Axew froze in disbelief when said we would get a room just to be lovey-dovey.

"I'm sure they're just kidding Iris," said Relena as she slapped Iris upside her head.

"Of course we're kidding," I told Iris with a gentle smile.

"What a couple of kids," Iris said under her breath only to get slapped upside her head again by Relena.

"You call them kids because you expect too much from them," Relena said to Iris. "They're from different regions and don't know everything about the Unova region. So just give them a break and don't expect them to know everything."

"Oh alright," said Iris as she rubbed her head.

"Alright now let's head to the Striaton Gym," Ash said with enthusiasm.

"Which is where now?" asked Iris as she acted superior to us.

"Uh, I don't know," answered Ash.

"Typical, what a kid," Iris said with a smirk on her face. This earned a punch from me as I got upset when Iris called Ash a kid.

"What was that for?" demanded Iris as she rubbed her cheek after I punched her.

"You called Ash a kid," I answered Iris. "Don't expect us to know everything; it's annoying when you call us kids, especially when you're younger than us."

"That's enough May," intervened Relena, "you don't need tell her anything she knows already."

I just glared at Iris and went back to Ash's side where Manaphy and Victini were waiting for me. Ash and I decided to look for the Striaton Gym on our own. I had suggested it to Ash because Iris was giving us a hard time about not knowing a lot of things here in the Unova region. Ash was a little uncomfortable with this but agreed as we needed to learn some things on our own if we were stuck without a guide. We weren't having much luck until we were met by someone who knew where Striaton Gym was and led us there. When we got to the Striaton Gym, we saw two teenage boys serving girls drinks and delicious food.

"This is the Striaton Gym?" Ash asked in disbelief.

"Yes it is," answered our guide. "My name is Cilan, I'm a Pokémon Connoisseur."

"A Pokémon Connoisseur?" I asked in confusion.

'Yeah, I've heard of Pokémon Connoisseurs before,' answered Victini. 'They check the compatibility of trainers and their Pokémon.'

Our guide and the people noticed Victini on my left shoulder and froze in disbelief as they had never seen Victini in real life.

"Oh my gosh it's Victini!" exclaimed one of the girls there.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see a Victini in real life!" exclaimed another girl.

"It's so adorable!" exclaimed a third girl as the three of them approached me and my Pokémon.

'I love being small and adorable,' Victini said one of the girls took Victini off my left shoulder was hugging him and even gave him a peck kiss on his forehead.

'Yup, it's good to be small and adorable,' said Victini as he enjoyed the attention he was getting from the girls.

"Wow, I never thought one little Pokémon would get so much attention," observed our guide as he watched the girls petting Victini and showing him affection. "Oh I almost forgot my name is Cilan; my brothers and I run this gym." Cilan's brothers, the two teenage boys who were serving the girls food and drinks.

"My name is Chili," said the red haired boy as he slightly bowed.

"My name is Cress," said the blue haired boy as he too slightly bowed before noticing Manaphy on my right shoulder. "Wow that's a nice Pokémon you have on your shoulder."

"Yeah, we've never seen Pokémon like his Pikachu and your blue Pokémon up close," said Cilan.

"This is Manaphy," I said to the three brothers, "I got him when I was competing in the Kanto Grand Festival."

"Grand Festival?" asked Chili.

One of the girls looked up from paying a lot attention to Victini and said to me, "You must be a Pokémon Coordinator. Aren't you the one who won the Accumula Town contest?"

"Yes I am," I answered. "And can I have Victini back? He is my Pokémon."

"Oh yeah, sure," answered the girls as they gave me Victini and I held him in my arms.

'You know Pikachu told me that he was always a chick magnet,' Victini said to me as he got back on my left shoulder.

"Yeah that's true," I said as I remembered the times Pikachu would sit on my lap and even cuddle with me. Pikachu really liked pretty girls, especially me.

"Ahem, do you guys get an email from Professor Juniper in Nuvema Town?" Relena asked the three brothers as she changed the subject.

"Oh you mean about a criminal organization from the Kanto region being here?" asked Chili as he recalled the e-mail message.

"Yes, that one," answered Relena.

"Well, we haven't seen the people you described or any other associates from the message," added Cress, "but we'll keep our eyes open for them and let you know."

"Thanks," said Relena as she gave a slight bow to the three gym leaders.

"But why don't we get down to business and take your order," said Cilan as Cress and Chili guided us to a table. During this time, Iris finally caught up to us joined up at the table Cress and Chili sat us down at. Iris was a little upset at me for punching her but didn't show her frustration to us.

"So what would you like to drink?" asked Chili as he was ready to take our order.

"Maybe you would like to try some of fabulous deserts," suggested Cress.

"So, what will it be?" Cilan asked us.

"Actually, I came to here to face the Gym Leader," Ash said as he got up. "So who's the gym leader here?"

"You're looking at them," answered Cilan as he pointed to himself and his brothers. "Who wants to see a gym battle?" This question was aimed at the girls who were sitting at the restaurant. All of them moved towards the balcony including Iris. I stayed by Ash's side and went to the arena with him.

"Huh, don't you want to watch from the balcony?" Chili asked me.

"No," I answered Chili. "I wanna face the gym leader too, after my boyfriend."

"Huh? You two are dating?" Cress asked us in amazement.

"Yes," I answered Cress as I held on Ash's left arm.

"Well, I must say that you two have different spices and certainly know how to bring them together for a flavorful relationship," observed Cilan.

"Uh, thanks," Ash said nervously.

"But let's get back to the task at hand," said Chili. "Which of us do you want face off against?"

"I wanna face off against all three of you," answered Ash much to the surprise of the audience, Iris and myself. "Since this is my first gym battle in the Unova region, I wanna face all three of you."

"Well, I guess we can facilitate your challenge," Cress said with a smile.

"I'll face you first," Chili said as he eagerly took his place in the gym leader's ring.

"Then we will begin the gym battle," announced Cilan. "The gym battle ends when the trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. The first battle will be the gym leader Chili against the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town.

"Let the match begin," finished Cilan.

Before Ash could grab a Pokéball, he got tackled by a girl that looked familiar to him. She had come into the gym and went to the balcony and then she saw Ash, she leapt from the balcony. For strange reason, I had a sense of déjà vu that it was that one Pokémon from the Sinnoh League.

"Latias, is that you again?" Ash asked the girl he helped her up. She hugged him and smiled at him.

"Uh, Ash do you know that girl?" Iris asked Ash from the balcony.

Ash gave the girl a nod and the girl turned into the Pokémon that helped Ash secure victory in the Sinoh League. Much to everyone's surprise, they were all shocked to see a person turn into a Pokémon, let alone a Pokémon they had never seen before. I think that Iris was shocked the most when she saw Latias transform back into her true form as a Pokémon.

"I'm guessing that you want to join me in my travels again," Ash said to Latias much to Latias' delight. She rubbed her cheek on Ash's cheek signifying her answer as a yes. Ash pulled out the Cherish Ball that Relena gave him and tapped it on Latias' head. The Cherish Ball shook three times and gave a confirmation click that Latias was caught. He quickly let Latias out of her Cherish Ball and asked her, "Do you want to battle?" Latias gave Ash a slight nod as she stood in the challenger's side. Chili was confused until Relena let him borrow her Pokédex. Chili pointed the Pokédex at Latias.

'Latias, the Eon Pokémon,' chimed Relena's Pokédex. 'Latias has the ability to transform into form itself into anything it sees. Latias is also very intelligent and can understand human speech.'

"Alright then, let's go Pansear," Chili said as he threw his Pokéball into the field.

Ash looked up Pansear in his Pokédex and hoped that Latias was ready to fight.

"Let the battle begin," said Cilan.

"Pansear use Fire Spin," ordered Chili as Pansear shot out fire sent it towards Latias.

"Use Dragon Breath," countered Ash as Latias fired a mighty gust at Pansear. Pansear was hit by the unexpected attack. "Great Latias, now use Return attack." Latias charged at Pansear and unleashed a powerful Return attack.

"Pansear use Incinerate," countered Chili. Pansear fired a ball of fire at Latias that came fast at her.

"Dodge it and use Dragonbreath again," Ash countered as Latias used Dragon Breath again effectively knocking out Pansear.

"Pansear is unable to battle," announced Cilan as he moved his arm to indicate Latias winning. "Latias wins."

"Good work Latias," said Ash as Latias rubbed her cheek against Ash's cheek.

'_Thanks_,' said Latias. Then it was Cress's turn to take on Ash.

"Now it's my turn," Cress said as he took Chili's place at the gym leader's ring. "Go Panpour."

A blue monkey Pokémon came out of its Pokéball and Ash looked it up in his Pokédex.

"Alright let's go Pikachu," Ash said to Pikachu.

'_Got it_,' Pikachu said as he leapt off of Ash's shoulder.

"The gym leader Cress will now face the challenger Ash Ketchum in a one-on-one battle," announced Cilan. "Let the battle begin!"

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt, go," ordered Ash. Pikachu charged for his Thunderbolt.

"Panpour use Scald," countered Cress. Panpour countered by spewing a scalding hot water at Pikachu.

"Quick dodge it Pikachu," said Ash as Pikachu stopped charging up for his Thunder bolt quickly moved out of the way of the scalding hot water. "Now use Quick Attack!" Pikachu quickly charged at Panpour and hit him before he got another by another Scald attack.

The exchange between Pikachu and Panpour went back and forth for twenty minutes until Pikachu reached a breaking point and Panpour took advantage of it.

"Pikachu is unable to battle," announced Cilan. "Panpour wins, so now the final match comes down to one last match." Cilan then took Cress's place in the gym leader's ring.

"Now you'll have to face me," Cilan said with a grin.

"The final match will now begin," said Cress as he took Cilan's place. "Cilan will face the challenger, Ash Ketchum for the Trio Badge. Let the match begin!"

"Pansage, it's time to battle," called out Cilan as he threw his Pokéball and out came a green monkey with a little tree on its head.

"Go Oshawott," said Ash as most of the audience and myself were shocked to hear Ash call out Oshawott instead of using Tepig.

"Oshawott, use Water Gun," Ash ordered Oshawott right off the bat and began a long struggle with Cilan. Oshawott and Pansage exchanged blows between each other until Oshawott lost his scalchop. Ash had Oshawott try to scramble and get his scalchop but was blocked by Pansage using his Bullet Seed. Then Ash came up with an idea that caused many in the audience to wonder what he was thinking or if he was thinking at all. Those comments made me upset as the cheerleaders and Iris thought Ash was out of his mind.

"Just trust me Oshawott," Ash assured Oshawott with a confident look on his face, the same confident look he has when he knows he's going to win. Oshawott could see the confidence in Ash's face and listened to him. Oshawott aimed a Water Gun at a part of the wall where Ash told him to aim. Sure enough Oshawott's Water Gun ricocheted off the wall and a couple of rocks towards his scalchop and Oshawott leapt up to get his scalchop back.

"Now Oshawott use Razor Shell," ordered Ash. Oshawott took the scalchop off his stomach and focused water energy on it as it formed a blade and charged at Pansage.

"Pansage use Bite," countered Cilan as he charged at Oshawott. Both Pokémon collided with each other as both attacks hit their mark. After waiting for a few seconds, Pansage fell down in defeat.

"Pansage is unable to battle," announced Cress. "Oshawott wins and with two wins the challenger from Pallet Town, Ash Ketchum wins."

The three brothers walked over to Ash and gave him a gym for defeating the gym. I had to admit, Ash sure knows how make a spectacular victory.

'I feel ready to challenge all three of them,' Victini said to me with enthusiasm.

"Unfortunately, we have to have our Pokémon healed and rested before we take on any other challengers," explained Cress.

"So if you're a Pokémon Coordinator, how come you're going into the Unova Pokémon League?" Cilan asked me.

Sweat dropped from my head as I answered, "Well, I… kinda signed Ash up to join me in the Unova contests and he signed me up to go with him in the Unova Pokémon League just get back at me for signing him up for the contests."

"I guess it must be payback," thought Chili. "We'll take your challenge tomorrow; for now we need to heal our Pokémon and give them some rest."

"Alright," I said as we left the gym to go to the Pokémon Center.

'Tomorrow, I'll try to win a gym badge,' I thought as we headed to the Pokémon Center.

**Alright guys, the next chapter is where Ash and May will be tested. Out of the following villains I have listed, which should come after them for revenge?**

**Kodai**

**Annie and Oakley**

**Lawrence the Pokémon Collector**

**Iron Marauder **

**Archie (**From Team Aqua**)**

**Maxine (**From Team Magma**)**

**Let me through your reviews. Thanks for reading and subscribing.**


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the delay, I was trying to come up with an idea for this chapter and I've got a good idea… I hope. [Ahem] I don't own Pokémon, Nintendo owns it all. I'm just borrowing the characters and story elements to make this story possible. Please, I'm begging you to review this story.

6: The Dangers of Being with Ash

Ash was excited about getting his first gym badge in the Unova region; but I was nervous about going into my first gym battle as I never took part in Gym battles. I always let Ash fight the gym battle while I took part in the contests. But since I signed Ash up to take part in the contests, he got back at me by signing me up for Unova Pokémon League and I had my first gym battle tomorrow. Ash and I went into the Pokémon Center as we would have wait for me to have my gym battle tomorrow. Ash and I got a room for the night and we settled in the room while Ash's Pokémon were getting healed. I was really nervous about participating in my first gym battle but Ash was able to calm me down and assure me that I would do fine against the three brothers at gym tomorrow. Once Ash's Pokémon were healed, Cilan came to ask Ash some questions about his battling style. Of course Ash couldn't most of Cilan's questions as Cilan used too many cooking references. After awhile Iris came into the Pokémon Center with Axew asleep and glowing with a purplish pink energy covering his body.

"Nurse Joy, you've got help my Axew," pleaded Iris. "We were walking along and then Axew was affected by this.

Victini saw this and said, 'Here let me see what I can do for your Axew.' Victini closed his eyes as he examined Axew.

"Well Victini?" I asked my furry companion. "Will Axew be okay?"

"Please say he'll be okay," pleaded Iris.

Victini smiled and said, 'He'll be fine, he was exposed to Dream Energy. If you find a Pokémon that knows Dream Eater then he should wake up in no time at all.'

"Excuse me," said a lady who came into the Pokémon Center, "I have a Pokémon that knows Dream Eater." The lady looked like she was a scientist as she wore a lab coat over her clothes and had a Pokémon at her side. The Pokémon she had at her side helped Axew by eating his dream and waking him up like Victini said. The Pokémon called Munna projected Axew's dream to us; it showed Axew evolving twice into a giant dragon Pokémon.

"So you were dreaming about evolving, weren't you?" Iris asked her Axew sweetly.

'_Yeah_,' Axew answered happily. Officer Jenny instructed Ash and I to put our Pokémon in their Pokéballs, but we explained our Pokémon didn't like being in their Pokéballs. Iris was amazed when we said this; then Officer Jenny instructed us to cover our Pokémon from the Dream Energy. Victini was unaffected by the Dream Energy; but I put my bandana on Manaphy's head, while the scientist put Ash's baseball cap on Pikachu's head. Then we made our way to the ruins of an abandoned facility where we encountered Team Rocket again. Those guys just don't know when to give up or when to admit defeat. When we saw Jessie, James and Meowth, they were dressed like they were secret agents. Relena saw the contraption and then looked at Team Rocket in their secret agent outfits.

"Hey, what's with the 007 getup?" Relena asked Team Rocket.

"Well this isn't for a costume party, if that's what you're thinking," countered Jessie.

'Did she ask you if you going to a costume party?' asked Victini. Jessie shot Victini a dirty look for his question before glancing at James and jerking her head towards Relena. James gave her a nod, produced a folder and tossed it to Relena.

"What's this?" asked Relena.

"Information we were able to gather for you," answered Meowth. "Word from within Team Rocket is that a few of the Boss's top agents broke out prison and are looking for revenge against the twerp got them busted."

"Huh? What's Meowth talking about Ash?" Iris asked Ash in confusion.

"Yeah, twerp, tell them about your remarkable accomplishments," said Jessie.

Ash ignored Jessie's remark and we began to battle against Team Rocket to keep Musharna out of Team Rocket's hands. I knew about the struggles Ash had against Team Rocket and other various villains. I understood the danger involved in being with Ash because I experienced the same dangerous situations Ash went through except those against Team Rocket in Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and most of Sinnoh.

Once Team Rocket got away and Musharna was reunited with the scientist, Cilan and Iris had us go to the Pokémon Center with them.

"Alright you two," began Iris, "Team Rocket said you got some of their top agents busted, what did you two do to get on Team Rocket's bad side?"

"Yes, I'm interested to hear why Team Rocket is after you guys," added Cilan.

"Most of the damage against Team Rocket was done by me and a couple of my friends," began Ash. "Some of their agents tried to abuse Pokémon for their own ambitions."

Ash went into detail as he talked about the incidents in the Ilex Forest, Lake of Rage, in the Whirl Islands and Altimar. I came in and added the battles we fought against Teams Aqua and Magma as well as other battles we faced not relating to any crime syndicates, including when Manaphy came into my life. Ash then told them about the long struggle against Team Galactic, Zero, some idiot noble who tried to use his influence to get some girl to marry him and correcting a mistake someone made in the past while the world was being ravaged by Arceus who wanted to destroy humanity because someone in the past got greedy and wanted to keep a treasure called the Jewel of Life to keep humanity from going hungry and losing out on its power.

'Wow, it sounds like you've had a rough adventure,' Victini said to Ash and I.

"I wouldn't say that it's been rough," Ash said as he glanced at me with a smile. I looked back at Ash with a smile back at him.

'It must be nice to find love at such a young age,' Victini said as he slurped a can of berry juice.

Iris rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"If you guys don't want to travel with us, we understand," I said to Iris and Cilan.

"Well Ash has to answer some questions for me," said Cilan. "So I'm travelling with you guys until I get my answers from Ash."

"I'm only going to keep you two kids from getting lost," Iris said sarcastically. Iris's last caused me to punch her again for calling Ash and I kids.

"Watch it, she's got a mean right hook," said Ash as Iris rubbed her jaw.

"Thanks for warning, Ash," sassed Iris.

The next morning we went back to the gym where it was my turn to battle either one of the brothers or follow Ash's example and challenge all three of them.

"So which one of us would you like to challenge?" asked Cress.

"Or do you want to challenge all of us?" jumped in Chili.

'Come on May, we can take all three of them,' urged Victini. 'If Ash can take on the three of them then why can't we?'

"I'll challenge all three of you like Ash did," I said.

Cilan moved to the referee's spot on the field and announced, "The gym battle between the gym leader Cress and May Haruka of Petalberg City will now commence."

"Panpour, it's time to battle," said Cress as he threw his Pokéball towards the field and releasing blue monkey Pokémon.

"Deerling, on stage," I said.

"Battle begin," said Cilan.

"Deerling, use Energy Ball," I said to Deerling. Deerling produced a green ball of energy and sent it at Panpour.

"Panpour dodge it and use Scald," countered Cress.

"Dodge it and use Agility with Grass Knot," I countered back. Deerling dodged Panpour's Scald attack with the increase of speed and produced grass energy and directed it at Panpour. Cress's Panpour was hit by Deerling's Grass Knot.

"Panpour use Lick," said Cress before remembering that Deerling was part Normal and part Grass.

"Faint Attack with Double Kick," I countered as Deerling used both attacks in a brilliant combination and connected with Panpour with precise accuracy. Panpour struggled and got back up as his feet wobbled.

"Panpour, use Ice Beam," ordered Cress. Panpour fired a beam of ice at Deerling which caught me off guard. Deerling was struck by the beam of ice and feel in defeat with circles in her eyes.

"Deerling is unable to battle," announced Cilan. "Panpour wins."

Iris laughed at me and said to me, "For someone who's known as the Princess of Hoenn, you're really a really terrible trainer. Maybe Victini would be better off with me." I was about ready go up to her punch her again but Ash held me back as he said, "Come on May, she's not worth the wasted energy."

'Ash is right,' said Victini. 'You have a gym battle to focus on. Brother Manaphy and I are more than enough to challenge Chili and Cilan.' Manaphy looked at Victini in surprised as he called him his brother. Manaphy then gave Victini a slight nod to me.

'_Brother Victini is right Mama_,_ we can take them_,' agreed Manaphy. '_Don_'_t worry about Iris_.' I smiled and gave both my Pokémon a peck kiss on their foreheads.

"Alright, now you'll face me," Cilan told me as he switched places with Cress.

"The match between gym leader Cilan and May Haruka of Petalberg City will now begin," announced Cress. "And I need to remind you May, that you must win the other two matches to get the Trio Badge."

"Not gonna get it," taunted Iris from the balcony. I ignored her as I faced Cilan.

"Alright Pansage, let's go," said Cilan as he released his Pokémon from its Pokéball.

'He's mine,' Victini told me.

I gave Victini a curt nod and said, "Victini, on stage!"

'Time to show what the Victory Pokémon can do,' said Victini as he loosened up for battle.

"You're not worthy to have Victini!" Iris shouted from the balcony.

"Battle begin," said Cress.

"Alright Pansage use Bullet Seed," ordered Cilan as Pansage was quick to go on the attack.

"Flame Charge and Psychic attack," I countered back. Victini was quick to produce fire around him and with his Psychic attack he formed a fiery image of an Arcanine and charged at Pansage. The fiery Arcanine caused Pansage to be startled and panic.

"No, Pansage!" cried Cilan as his Pansage was swallowed up by Victini's attack combined attack.

"Whoa, flame on Victini," Ash said as he watched Pansage get mowed down.

'_Flame on_!' agreed Pikachu.

Once the flames died down Pansage had circles in his eyes.

"Pansage is unable to battle," announced Cress. "Victini is the winner."

'See I told you cute and furry Pokémon always win,' Victini said as he directed his comment to the ladies in the balcony as well as a flash of Victini's charming appeal.

"Oh my god, it's so cute!" squealed the girls in the balcony.

'Thank you ladies,' said Victini as he waved and gave wink to the girls in the balcony. Only Iris wasn't amused by Victini's attempts to charm the ladies as they squealed again.

"Oh, what a womanizer," Iris said aloud, only to get mobbed by the girls, who were also on the balcony watching the gym battle. After the dust settled, Iris somehow survived with some bandages on her face.

"Now you gotta face me," said Chili as he took Cilan's spot. "Go Pansear!" Chili released his Pokémon from his Pokéball.

"Manaphy, on stage!" I exclaimed as Manaphy leapt off my shoulder and on the field.

'_Victini isn_'_t the only one who can be cute and win battles_,' said Manaphy as he took his spot on the field and then turned to make his appeal to the girls on the balcony with his charm.

"Oh my god, it's so maximum adorable!" squealed a few girls as they saw Manaphy's appeal and charm.

"Whoa, maybe we need to find cute Pokémon," said Cilan as he saw the cheerleaders being dazzled my two small Pokémon.

"Ahem, let the final match begin," said Cress as he brought focus back to the match.

"Manaphy, Water Pulse," I ordered Manaphy. Manaphy produced an orb of pulsating water and sent it at Pansear.

"Pansear dodge it and use Incinerate," countered Chili.

"Water Pulse and Psychic," I countered back. Manaphy again produce an orb of pulsating water and sent it at Pansear, but was guided by Manaphy's Psychic attack. The orb connected on Pansear as it became confused.

"Pansear use Lick," ordered Chili.

"Use Brine," I countered as Pansear tried going at Manaphy ready to use its Lick attack. Manaphy sent a jet of water at Pansear which connected again and at double the power. Pansear then fell in defeat with circles in his eyes.

"Pansear is unable to battle," announced Cress. "Manaphy wins; and with two wins May Haruka is the winner."

The three brothers came up to me with another badge, this one for me.

"That was a nice gym battle," said Cilan.

"Yeah, that was an impressive comeback," added Chili. "Please take this Trio Badge to show your victory here at the Striaton Gym."

I took the badge and showed the same excitement that Ash had when he had when he got his badge.

"What, are you sure you want to do that?" Cress asked Cilan.

"Yeah, besides I want to be the best Pokémon Connoisseur," answered Cilan.

"Well we won't stop you," said Cress. "We'll look after the gym while you're gone." Cilan gave his brothers a nod and followed us as we left Striaton City. Iris came along with us despite getting punched by me twice. Relena came along too as she felt that there would be problems along the way throughout the Unova journey. I was glad that my best friend would be travelling with us. Now we made our way to the next town because it had the next Pokémon Contest for Ash and I to participate in. Cilan looked at the Poké Nav and said, "The town that has the next gym Nacrene City."

"What about where the next Pokémon Contest?" I asked Cilan. "I think it's in Sapphire Town."

"Sapphire Town is midway between here and Nacrene City," answered Cilan.

"Who cares about a stupid Pokémon Contest?" Iris sarcastically asked me.

"I care about the next Pokémon Contest," answered Ash. "Since I'm registered for the Pokémon Contests, I need to know where and when the next Contest is." That was enough to get Iris to back off her sarcastic remarks.

"Ahem, if we're done trying to kill each other," began Relena, "let's get moving to Sapphire Town."

"You're not going anywhere!" exclaimed an unfamiliar voice. "I'll make you pay Ash Ketchum."

Ash and I turned around to see a man in his thirties with dirty blonde hair, wearing a business suit.

"Who are you?" Cilan asked the strange man.

"Lawrence," answered Ash as he gritted his teeth and remembered him.

"You mean you know him?" Iris asked Ash in surprise.

"Yeah," answered Ash. "I met him in the Orange Islands as he tried to capture three legendary Pokémon in order force another one out."

"I still hope to capture Lugia," said Lawrence.

"Huh? What's a Lugia?" asked Iris dumbfounded. Relena handed her Pokédex to Iris and showed her the entry of Lugia.

'Lugia, the Diving Pokémon, Lugia is said to sleep at the bottom of the ocean to contain its power. It also said to cause a storm lasting 40 days,' said Relena's Pokédex.

"Wow!" exclaimed Iris.

"Just what are you?" asked Cilan

"I'm a Pokémon Collector," answered Lawrence.

"A… Pokémon Collector?" I asked confused.

"You mean, you're a poacher," Relena snarled at Lawrence.

As she said this, one of her Pokémon, an Articuno named Frost, came down and joined her. Iris saw Frost and borrowed Relena's Pokédex and aimed it at Frost.

'Articuno, the Freeze Pokémon. Aritcuno is said to nest in the highest mountains and can freeze moisture creating blizzards.'

"Ah, I remember you," Lawrence said to Frost. "You were a menace to my plans and because of you Lugia and the other legendary birds got away from me." Frost gave a big grin to Lawrence's last remark. Lawrence then produced a Pokéball and threw it up.

"Gyarados, let's get our revenge," said Lawrence.

"Let's get him Pikachu," said Ash as Pikachu leapt from Ash's shoulder.

"What is that Pokémon?" Iris asked as she pointed Relena's Pokédex at Gyarados.

'Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon,' chirped Relena's Pokédex. 'Gyarados are known going on prolonged rampages for months at a time.'

"Oh man, sounds like a mean Pokémon,"

'_Yeah,_' agreed Axew as he shook Gyarados's image and then at Lawrence's Gyarados.

"Gyarados use Hydro Pump," ordered Lawrence.

"Dodge it and use and Thunderbolt," countered Ash. Pikachu dodged Gyarados's Hydro Pump with relative ease and used his Thunderbolt on Gyarados.

Lawrence became angry and said, "Use Flamethrower."

"Dodge it and use Volt Tackle!" exclaimed Ash. Pikachu again dodged Gyarados's attack and charged at Lawrence's Gyarados. The Gyarados was struck hard by Pikachu's Volt Tackle and fell back with circles in its eyes.

Lawrence gritted his teeth as he recalled Gyarados. "Tyranitar, let's show him what we can do."

"Pikachu, come back," said Ash as he knew not have Pikachu battle against Tyranitar because it was a part Rock Pokémon. Ash's Oshawott popped out of its Pokéball eager to fight.

"Hey come on Oshawott," protested Ash.

'_I can take this Pokémon I_'_ve never seen_,' assured Oshawott.

'_Be careful_,_ it_'_s a really powerful Pokémon_,' cautioned Pikachu.

Iris again used Relena's Pokédex and aimed at Tyranitar.

'Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Tyranitar have the ability to knock down mountains and dry up rivers in a rampage. Maps often have to redrawn after such an occasion.'

"That's a powerful Pokémon," commented Iris.

"That little pipsqueak won't be able to handle my mighty Tyranitar," Lawrence said with a pompous attitude.

"We'll see about that," said Ash as he showed his business face and turned his hat backwards.

"Tyranitar, use Hyper Beam," started Lawrence. Lawrence's Tyranitar began charge up its Hyper Beam as Ash made his move.

"Oshawott use Razor Shell," countered Ash as Oshawott took the scalchop off its chest and charged at Tyranitar as he focused energy to the shell.

"Looks like Oshawott took my training seriously," observed Relena.

"Your… training?" asked Iris confused by what Relena said.

"Yeah, Ash let me train his Pokémon with certain tactics I trained to my own Pokémon," explained Relena. "I trained Oshawott to use attacks like his Razor Shell on the move. In Pokémon battles against wild Pokémon and trainer raised Pokémon, mobility is a key factor."

"Tyranitar, aim your Hyper Beam at her," ordered Lawrence as he pointed at me. "If I'm not going have what I want then I'll take away what you hold dear in life." Tyranitar aimed and fired his Hyper Beam at me without hesitation. Ash ran over to me, knocking me down on the ground and shielding me with his own body.

"Oshawott quick use your Razor Shell on Tyranitar before he can fire again," ordered Ash. Oshawott had its shell enveloped in focused water energy. Oshawott zigzagged and finally put a lot of force into his Razor Shell attack as he struck Lawrence's Tyranitar with full force. Lawrence's Tyranitar got knocked back by the force of Oshawott's Razor Shell.

"Quick Oshawott use that Ice Beam you learned from Relena," said Ash as Oshawott was quick to follow up his Razor Shell with a blast of ice at Tyranitar. Before Tyranitar could react and dodge, he got struck by Oshawott's Ice Beam but it didn't do the major damage I thought it would do.

"Aim another Ice Beam at Tyranitar's mouth," ordered Ash. Oshawott happily aimed another Ice Beam at Tyranitar's mouth. Tyranitar's eyes widened when Oshawott's Ice Beam struck him again and created an ice muzzle. Ash and I got off the ground and I noticed that Ash was upset that someone would do something low like try to attack me with their Pokémon.

"Alright Oshawott use Scald," said Ash. Oshawott fired a blast of scalding hot water at Tyranitar which struck Tyranitar and caused him to get burned and run in circles giving off a muffled scream of pain and fainted with circles in his eyes.

'No, how could my mighty Tyranitar get beaten by small pipsqueak?' thought Lawrence as he gritted his teeth.

"Don't ever try to attack my girlfriend again," Ash sternly warned Lawrence with venom in his voice.

"You don't scare me," snarled Lawrence. "Go Exeggutor!"

Iris aimed the Pokédex at Exeggutor and the Pokédex responded.

'Exeggutor, the Coconut Pokémon, Exeggutor are often called the 'Walking Jungle.' Exeggutor use immense Psychic power to protect itself.'

"I appreciate you protecting me," I said to Ash, "But let us help you."

"Get him Frost!" exclaimed Relena as her Articuno was more than happy to join the battle.

"Exeggutor use Egg Bomb," ordered Lawrence. Exeggutor fired its Egg Bomb at Frost but missed due to Frost's speed and ability to glide on air currents. Frost, without an order, used Ice Beam as he screamed down for a strafing run on Exeggutor.

"Quick Exeggutor, dodge it and use Seed Bomb," countered Lawrence. Before his Exeggutor could use Seed Bomb, Frost closed the gap as he used Aerial Ace and Ice Beam. Within one swift strafing run, Exeggutor looked like a frozen statue with circles in his eyes. Lawrence became frustrated as half of his Pokémon were knocked out.

"I won't be beaten," snarled Lawrence.

'_News flash_, _you_'_re getting beaten_,' taunted Frost with a grin on his face.

"Go Vileplume," said Lawrence as he threw another Pokéball out and released another Pokémon, a flower Pokémon.

Iris aimed the Pokédex at Vileplume this time. I guess she had never seen any of the Pokémon Lawrence had.

'Vileplume, the Flower Pokémon. Vileplume scatter highly allergic pollen when walking as a defense against enemies.'

"Man, I never thought that would see so many Pokémon from a different region," remarked Iris.

'I'll take this Pokémon,' Victini said as he leapt off my shoulder.

"Vileplume, use Stun Spore," ordered Lawrence.

"Ignite that powder with Searing Shot," I countered back.

'Sorry but no one is going to get paralyzed with that Stun Spore,' Victini said as he fired a shot at the yellow powder igniting it and making it go away.

"Now use Flame Charge and Psychic," I ordered Victini.

'I've got two words for you Mr. Lawrence,' Victini told Lawrence, 'and that's Flame On!' Victini then became enveloped in flames focused with Psychic energy and charged at Vileplume. Vileplume was startled and panicked as it was hit by focused flames. In one hit, his Vileplume was knocked out with circles in his eyes. Lawrence became even more frustrated as he recalled his Vileplume.

"Give it up Lawrence, you can't beat us," Ash said to Lawrence.

"Who said he was alone?" asked one of three familiar faces. Both Ash and I recognized the three figures from the Sinoh region.

"Mars, Saturn, Jupiter?" Ash asked in disbelief.

"That's right," said Saturn with a smirk on his face.

"Huh, you know those three?" asked Cilan as he and Iris looked at Ash and I.

"Yeah," I answered Cilan and Iris. "They're three executives who belonged to a criminal organization from the Sinoh region called Team Galactic."

"Team Galactic?" asked Iris confused.

"That's right," said Mars. "We're still going to create a new universe with Master Cyrus and you won't stop us."

"And this time dear Azelf won't save you like last time," taunted Jupiter.

"Who's Azelf?" asked Iris.

"Azelf is a legendary Pokémon from the Sinoh region," I answered.

Iris opened up Relena's Pokédex and said Azelf's name.

'Azelf, the Willpower Pokémon. Azelf is said to have given people the ability of determination to accomplish things on their own.'

"Amazing," said Iris.

"Unfortunately for you, playtime is over and we have to go," said Saturn as he pulled Lawrence away from us. "Get in our way again and you will be dealt with severally." Lawrence and the three Galactic executives walked away from us leaving Cilan and Iris confused about what just had happened.

"Now you guys know the kind of danger you'll be in with us," Ash said to Cilan and Iris after Lawrence and the Galactic executives left. "Are you guys **really** sure you want to come with us? If Lawrence and the Team Galactic executives are out to get revenge on me and May, then you guys shouldn't come with us. It'll get dangerous if more enemies from our past start popping up and jumping us and anyone we befriend."

"How will you guys get to where you need to go?" asked Cilan.

"Yeah," agreed Iris. "You'll need a guide throughout the Unova Region. Cilan and I may not know what kind of enemies you two made before coming here to the Unova region, but we'll stay with you two."

"Thank you," I said to Cilan and Iris.

We decided to stay one more night in Striaton City before moving on to Nacrene City. In the morning, we set out for Nacrene City. Along the way we would make an encounter that would make Ash's team stronger than ever.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokémon games or anime. They belong to Nintendo; I'm just borrowing the characters and story elements of the anime to make my own fanfic.

Author's Note: This chapter contains mild-language and some strong violence. So read at your own risk

7: Snivy Plays Hard to Catch and Enemies Continue to Surface

After Lawrence and the three Galactic executives left us to go find their leader Cyrus, the group found a nice place with beautiful view of mountains and the forest and stopped for lunch. Brock maybe a great cook, but so is Cilan. Ash and I never mentioned Brock because we didn't want to hurt Cilan's feelings and make him feel that he had to be better than Brock. Neither Ash nor I knew who taught him how to cook, but he cooked as if we were dinning at a five star restaurant. Cilan made a wonderful dessert using the apples that Iris picked from the surrounding trees. As he went to get the second batch he made, he saw that it had disappeared. So we set out to investigate where the stolen dessert went to; as we set to look for the stolen dessert, we saw grass rustling close by and set out see if a Pokémon had taken our food. Sure enough, a little Snivy had taken our food and was happily eating it.

"That Snivy must've liked the food seeing as how it's still eating the last of Cilan's apple wontons," said Relena as we watched it eat the last apple wonton. Low and behold, my boyfriend Ash got that look in his eyes that said to me and Relena that he was intent on catching that Snivy.

"Go Pokéball," said Ash as he threw the Pokéball at Snivy hoping to catch it without battling it.

"You moron," commented Relena. "I gave you Quick Balls for that kind of situation."

"Quick Balls?" asked Cilan as he looked at Relena in amazement.

"Yeah, I use Quick Balls most of the time to avoid battles if I can," answered Relena.

"Nice," said Iris as we watched and waited to see if Snivy would stay in the Pokéball it was in.

Snivy broke out of the Pokéball, slapped it back at Ash and ran away.

Little did we realize that Relena had slipped away from us right as Snivy got away from us. Ash told us that he wanted to catch Snivy for his team and Iris ridiculed him and asked Ash to calm down. Iris should've known that when Ash wants to catch a Pokémon, he shows absolute determination until he catches the Pokémon he wants to catch. We followed Ash till he found the Snivy he tried to catch in the Pokéball at first.

"Alright Pikachu use Quick Attack," Ash said to Pikachu. Pikachu then leapt off Ash's shoulder and charged at Snivy. Snivy however had a quick eye and saw Pikachu coming at it and dodged as it was still eating the apple wonton. Once Snivy was finished eating, it glared at Ash and then acted like a diva.

"Uh, I think you're being made fun of," assumed Iris.

"What?" asked Ash as he then quickly regained composure. "Pikachu use Thunderbolt."

Pikachu prepared to use his Thunderbolt when Snivy quickly countered with its own attack as it used Attract on Pikachu. Pikachu stood there dumbfounded as he got hit by Snivy's Attract and became infatuated with Snivy.

"Hey Pikachu, what's wrong?" Ash asked Pikachu.

"Snivy used Attract," answered Iris.

"Huh?" asked Ash dumbfounded.

"Attract, a move that causes infatuation," explained Cilan.

"You mean you don't even know that?" Iris asked Ash sarcastically. "What a kid."

Iris's last remark earned her another punch from me as I slugged her for calling Ash a kid.

While Iris and I were about to get into a Meowth fight, Snivy used her Vine Whip on Pikachu and struck dead on as Pikachu got hit.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed Ash as he moved in between Snivy and Pikachu to protect him from Snivy's Vine Whip. Ash got hit by Snivy's Vine Whip on his back and this got my attention away from Iris.

Snivy then saw that it was attacking Ash instead of Pikachu and was shocked to see that a human would take a hit for his Pokémon. I guess Snivy never had that kind of trainer who was like Ash and whipped up a Leaf Tornado to run away from the fact that it was impressed that Ash would just throw himself out to protect his Pokémon.

"Are you okay Ash?" I asked Ash after giving him peck kiss on his forehead.

"I'll be fine May," answered Ash as returned the peck kiss on my cheek.

"Oh why don't you two get a room," lashed Iris.

"We will," I answered back as I gave her an evil smirk.

Iris was shocked in disbelief that I would give her that kind of answer. Iris regained her composure as she shifted attention back towards Ash's dilemma.

"I wonder if it abandoned its trainer," said Iris as I was glad that Iris changed the subject.

"Why would it abandon its trainer?" I asked Iris.

"Snivy are not only speedy Pokémon, but they're smart too," explained Cilan.

"That just means I want it even more," said Ash as I had a smile on my face as Ash sent Pidove to look for Snivy.

While we were talking about Snivy, Relena went in search for Snivy herself. She found the Snivy that Ash was trying to catch and waited for the right time to talk to her. Once Snivy got comfortable, Relena approached it and got comfortable next to it.

"That human is quite something, isn't he?" Relena asked Snivy.

Snivy looked at Relena, tensed up and was about to run away until Relena said, "Don't worry I don't want to catch you."

Snivy then relaxed and got in her comfortable position as she answered Relena, '_Yeah_,_ I don_'_t think I_'_ve ever seen a human quite like him_. _ He seems_…_ different from my original trainer_.'

"Really?" asked Relena. "What was your first trainer like?"

'_She neglected me for her other Pokémon and went travelling to another region just to compete in something she called Pokémon contests_.

'_I started not trusting humans until that human came along and took the hits from my Vine Whip for that strange Pokémon I_'_ve never seen_,' continued Snivy. '_Speaking of which_,_ what was Pokémon called_,_ I don't think it's from the Unova region_.' Relena pulled out her Pokédex, found the entry and gave it to Snivy to look at.'

'Pikachu, the mouse Pokémon. Pikachu collects electric energy in its cheeks and releases it when necessary.'

"That Pokémon is from a region called the Kanto region," Relena said as Snivy gave her back her Pokédex.

'_Can_'_t say I_'_ve heard of this Kanto region_,' said Snivy. '_Is it far from the Unova region_?'

"Well it's an airplane ride from Nuvema Town," answered Relena.

Snivy gave Relena a slight nod and then motioned for Relena to listen to what she had to say to her.

'_I know of a colony of abandoned Pokémon_,' Snivy said to Relena as she told Relena where to find the colony.

'_Tell them the Love Audino sent you_,' instructed Snivy, '_and make sure that you_'_re not followed_.'

"I will and thank you," Relena said as she got up and saw Ash's Pidove going towards them. "Give the human boy a chance and who knows you might like him. It's that or face his unrelenting determination."

Snivy smiled at Relena and said, '_Alright, thanks for the tip_.'

Relena then left Snivy as she took a nap before Ash's Pidove caught a glimpse of her. Pidove then came back and lead us towards Snivy; but I was more worried about Relena then I was worried about Ash catching Snivy. We were able see Snivy as she looked at us, mostly eyed Ash.

"Hey Snivy," Ash called out to Snivy. "I want to battle you."

'_Come on_, _battle us_,' urged Pikachu. Then Oshawott came out of his Pokéball ready to fight and convinced Ash to let him have a shot.

Snivy sighed, gave Ash thirty seconds to begin his climb with Pikachu and Oshawott and then knocked a cluster of rocks to stop him from climbing. Snivy thought she had stopped Ash from coming but heard Ash's voice and Oshawott urging Ash to keep going. Again Snivy sighed as she couldn't believe Ash's determination. Oshawott leapt off of Ash's head and took a battle stance.

"Oshawott use Water Gun," ordered Ash as Oshawott fired off a stream of water at Snivy. Snivy dodged Oshawott's Water Gun but got a splash of water on Snivy's nose as she wiped it off quickly and countered back. Once we climbed up after Ash, Iris challenged Ash's decision to use Oshawott against Snivy. I was about to punch Iris if she called Ash a kid again. Snivy used Vine Whip against Oshawott but was met with an unexpected challenge as Oshawott blocked them with his scalchop.

"Now Oshawott use Razor Shell," said Ash as Oshawott charged towards Snivy and focused energy on his scalchop. Again Snivy used her Attract and was able to hit Oshawott even as he was charging at her. Oshawott then became smitten with Snivy as Snivy took advantage of this and used her Vine Whip attack again. Oshawott was struck by Snivy's Vine Whip before Snivy ran off again. Ash recalled Oshawott and continued his pursuit of Snivy. I followed right behind him as he continued to pursue Snivy with his determination. Victini liked the feeling of chasing after a Pokémon even though I wasn't trying to catch that Snivy.

'It's nice to do the chasing instead being chased,' said Victini as I followed Ash through the forest.

Victini, Manaphy and I didn't follow Ash as he swung on vines after Snivy; we stayed on the ground and ran after him. Unfortunately, his pursuit came to a halt as the vine he and Pikachu were swinging on snapped and caused him to fall on the lily pad Snivy had stopped on for a minute. Snivy saw Ash and Pikachu fall and quickly got to dry land and watched as Ash got up and tried to chase her again but was sinking. I was lucky to find a vine nearby that was long enough to throw to Ash. When I got to Ash, the mud was up to his waist.

"Ash grab on," I urged Ash. Ash complied and I pulled him to shore with all my might before Cilan and Iris caught up with us. Once Ash was ashore, Cilan and Iris arrived just in time to see Snivy walk away.

"Does this mean you're still after Snivy?" Cilan asked Ash.

"Yup," answered Ash. "Snivy's as good as mine."

"Why can't just give up and accept the fact that it's not going to happen?" asked a frustrated Iris.

"And you need to accept the fact that Ash isn't going to give until Snivy becomes his Pokémon?" I countered back.

"May, you don't need to keep defending me when Iris keeps asking why I'm stubborn," Ash calmly as he gently pulled me to him. "But I really do appreciate it."

I smirked and asked him as I put my arms around his waist, "Aren't you still going after Snivy?"

We pulled apart and Ash continued follow Pidove to where Snivy was. We found that Snivy was trying to refresh herself with a cool drink of water and cleaning herself off.

"Snivy," Ash said to small green Pokémon, "got you this time."

Snivy sighed and then gave smirk as it seemed that she had made up her mind.

"Tepig, I choose you," said Ash as he threw a Pokéball. The orange and brown pig Pokémon came out of his Pokéball.

"Alright Tepig, we gotta get Snivy before it can use Attract," instructed Ash. Tepig gave a slight nod in agreement.

"Tepig, use Ember," ordered Ash. Tepig spewed fire out its nose and directed it at Snivy. Snivy dodged the Ember attack and used Attract once more, this time on Tepig. Tepig was hit by Snivy's Attract and became infatuated with Snivy.

"Tepig, return," said Ash as he recalled Tepig before Snivy could do any damage to Tepig. Snivy then gestured to Ash, daring him to send his next Pokémon at her.

Pikachu was about ready to make another attempt at Snivy when Pidove wanted to take shot at Snivy.

"Alright then, go Pidove," said Ash as he let Pidove take a shot at Snivy. Pidove charged at Snivy with quick speed.

"Pidove use Gust," Ash ordered Pidove. Pidove threw wind gusts at Snivy quickly. Snivy quickly dodged Pidove's Gust and used Attract again hoping for the same result as the other Pokémon Ash sent against her. Ash waited and watched as he thought that Pidove would fall for the same trick that his other Pokémon fell for. When Snivy's hit Pidove, it didn't seem to affect it.

"Wow, so that means that Pidove is a girl," said Iris in amazement.

"I bet Ash knew it all along," assumed Cilan.

"I seriously doubt it," I said to Iris and Cilan.

'Why do you say that May?' Victini asked me. 'Don't you love him?'

"Don't get me wrong Victini," I answered Victini, "I do love him; but he isn't always the best and brightest when comes to studying Pokémon."

'Oh I see,' replied Victini.

"So Pidove's a girl," said Ash as he saw Snivy's Attract fail. "What do you know; quite a lucky break."

Pikachu fell over anime style in disbelief at Ash's denseness. Once Ash saw this, he quickly took advantage of the new development.

"Pidove use Quick Attack," Ash ordered Pidove. Pidove quickly zeroed in on Snivy with precision and speed.

Snivy countered back by using Leaf Tornado and sent it at Pidove.

"Pidove dodge it and use Air Cutter," ordered Ash. Pidove followed Ash's instructions dodging Snivy's Leaf Tornado and countering with its Air Cutter. Snivy got hit by Pidove's Air Cutter and struggled to get up.

"Go Pokéball," said Ash as he threw the Pokéball at Snivy. Snivy went into to the Pokéball and it shook a few times before Snivy broke out.

"Pidove use Air Cutter one more time," ordered Ash. Pidove used Air Cutter one more time and it connected with enough force to knock her back. I noticed that Snivy gave a smirk of approval and I guessed that Snivy thought Ash was the right trainer for her.

Once Ash caught Snivy we continued to move on towards Sapphire Town for our next contest. Unfortunately, the peace that we had after Ash caught Snivy was short lived because once again our past came back to haunt us. A rocket fell down and nearly hit us causing an explosion and knocking us back a bit. The four of us picked ourselves up off the ground and waited to see who was behind the smoke. Much to our surprise this enemy that came after us was from the Hoen region as Ash and I recognized the man who fired the rocket at us as the leader of Team Aqua.

"Archie?" Ash and I asked in shock and surprise.

'You know that guy?' Victini asked me as he got back on my shoulder.

"I wish we didn't know him," Ash answered Victini.

"So who is he?" asked Cilan.

"His name is Archie," I answered Cilan. "He lead a criminal syndicate in my home region of Hoen called Team Aqua."

"Team Aqua?" Iris asked dumbfounded.

"They wanted to flood the earth and make the Earth a giant oceanic planet," I explained to Iris and Cilan. "They were going to use a legendary Pokémon called Kyogre to flood the Earth."

Iris pulled out Relena's Pokédex and spoke Kyogre into the Pokédex.

'Kyogre, the Sea Basin Pokémon. Kyogre is said to have widened oceans using downpours and sleeps in a marine trench.'

"Wow that sounds like a powerful Pokémon," said Iris as she put the Pokédex she borrowed from Relena away.

'Yeah,' agreed Axew.

"I'm still going to turn this planet into an ocean," snarled Archie as he produced a Pokéball and threw it at us. "Go Mightyena, it's time for payback."

Iris saw the Mightyena, pulled out the Pokédex again and aimed it at Mightyena.

'Mightyena, the Bite Pokémon. This is a loyal Pokémon and never disobeys its trainer. It is known for chasing down prey in a pack.'

"Come on Pikachu," Ash to Pikachu. "We beat these guys before and we can do it again."

Just then Archie's grunts came and blocked us from taking on Archie. They released their Pokémon to face us.

'Come on Ash and May, we can take these guys,' Victini said as he was eager to fight.

'_Yeah let's take these guys on Mama_,' agreed Manaphy as he too was eager to fight.

Oshawott then popped out of his Pokéball because he wanted a piece of the action as well. Archie gave an evil grin as he snapped his fingers. The Pokémon then suddenly launched themselves at our Pokémon, easily overpowering them and then darted towards us so they could maul us to death. Before their Pokémon could do that, Pikachu quickly got up and used his Thunderbolt to swat them away from us. Victini, Manaphy and Oshawott also got back up still ready to fight.

"You're stupid for Pokémon," Archie said to our Pokémon. "You should just lie down and watch helplessly as your trainers die."

'Not our watch,' countered Victini. 'We're willing to protect our trainers because they're important to us.'

"Fine then," Archie snarled. "I tried, but you won't listen to reason. Prepare to meet ARCEUS!"

"Huh, Arceus?" asked Cilan dumbfounded as Iris passed Relena's Pokédex to Cilan. Cilan proceeded to open the Pokédex and searched for the entry on Arceus and found it.

'Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon. Arceus is said to have hatched from an egg and formed all life in this universe.'

Then a battle began as we stood there and watched our Pokémon fight Team Aqua without us telling them what to do. Archie and his grunts' Pokémon overpowered our Pokémon and slammed their paws down to restrain our Pokémon from trying to help us.

"Now then which one of you is going to die first?" Archie asked us as Ash shielded me from him.

Before anybody said anything, Team Aqua's Mightyena were hit by what looked to be Signal Beam, Aura Sphere and Focus Blast attacks. When the smoke cleared, the four Mightyena were knocked out and had circles in their eyes. Pikachu, Oshawott, Manaphy and Victini got up and came back to us as Archie recovered from the shock.

"What, what's going on?" asked Archie as he saw who attacked him and his men. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'd say that **your** past is coming back to haunt you," answered a voice familiar to Archie with a hint of bitterness in their voice. What Archie saw made him freeze in shock as he saw one of his former commanders glaring at him in disgust.

"Shelly?" asked Archie in shock and disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you the same," countered Shelly. "Why are you attacking those two? Are you still focused on that goal of yours?"

"Huh, what goal?" asked Cilan.

"Flood the Earth and turn it into an oceanic planet," answered Ash.

"We could still turn this planet into the ocean if you would join us again," Archie said to Shelly.

"And be an expendable pawn like last time?" countered Shelly as she recounted when Archie was going let all his minions die when he had Kyogre began causing destruction.

Archie gritted his teeth as Shelly wouldn't listen to him and rejoin Team Aqua. For Archie he felt betrayed and there was only thing he could do with her.

"If you won't join me, then I'll destroy you," snarled Archie as he produced a Pokéball. "Go Kingdra, show no mercy to those traitors."

Iris grabbed Relena's Pokédex from Cilan and aimed it at Kingdra.

'Kingdra, the Dragon Pokémon. This Pokémon is to create whirlpools every time it moves and lives in caves on the seafloor.'

"That's an interesting Pokémon," said Cilan as he listened to the Pokédex describe Kingdra.

"If you find my Kingdra interesting, you'll find the Pokémon my minions have are interesting as well," said Archie with an evil grin on his face.

Archie's minions sent out their Pokémon too as they had a variety of Water Pokémon from the different regions except for the Unova region. Iris aimed the Pokédex at each of them as she had never any of the Pokémon in the Unova region. The first Pokémon she aimed the Pokédex at was a Floatzel.

'Floatzel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Floatzel are known for rescuing people in distress and use the floatation ring to keep it afloat in the water.'

The next Pokémon was the first stage evolution of a starter Pokémon from the Johto region.

'Croconaw, the Big Jaw Pokémon. Croconaw are known for having a tight grip and not letting go of their prey until they lose their fangs.'

The group of Pokémon Iris aimed the Pokédex at the group of Crawdaunt.

'Crawdaunt, the Rouge Pokémon. Crawdaunt are territorial Pokémon and throw out any Pokémon or humans that don't belong in its territory.

One Aqua grunt looked familiar to Ash and I as he had the final evolved form of the Sinnoh starter Water Pokémon. Iris saw the tall Water Pokémon and aimed the Pokédex at it.

'Empoleon, the Emperor Pokémon. Empoleon are considered to be proud and will defend its honor and pride against any foe.'

Ash noticed the Aqua grunt with the Empoleon and thought that it might be Barry from the Sinnoh region.

"So who wants some?" Archie asked me and the others around us.

"This fight is between you, me and Ash," I said to Archie. "You don't need to get our friends involved in something that they had no knowledge of or weren't there when we defeated you."

"Sorry, but they're here travelling with you aren't they?" countered Archie. "So that means they're fair game and a target just like you."

"Wait a minute I don't know you or what you did," protested Iris.

"Kingdra, use Draco Meteor," ordered Archie as he wouldn't listen to Iris.

"Everyone scatter!" exclaimed Ash as he knew the destruction that Draco Meteor could do. Cilan listened to Ash as we scattered as Kingdra's Draco Meteor attack rain down a trail of destruction around us and set part of the forest ablaze. Archie gave an evil laugh as the forest started burning. Shelly and those following her went into action and put out the fire. However the Pokémon of the forest were angry about having part of their home destroyed by a human and Pokémon that were unfamiliar to them. Many of them saw Archie and began attacking Archie and his Team Aqua minions which caught them off guard.

"What the?" asked Archie as he covered his face and watched as Kingdra got pounded by some of local Pokémon. "Ngh, why now of all time to get attacked by the locals?"

Archie gritted his teeth and said to his minions, "Call your Pokémon back and retreat." Archie glared at us and Shelly and said, "You got lucky. Next time you won't be so lucky." Archie and the Team Aqua grunts recalled all their Pokémon and ran before the local Pokémon could catch them.

Once the dust cleared, Shelly and her group had disappeared during the Pokémon's attack on Archie's men.

"Well that certainly was a close call," said Ash we got close to a school and Pokémon Daycare.

"Maybe we should stop for the night," I suggested to the group. "Our Pokémon need to rest from that battle."

"Your Pokémon need to rest," Iris corrected me. "My Pokémon don't to rest right now."

"Why don't we push on a little further," suggested Cilan. "We'll rest later." I looked to Ash and he gave me a slight nod as he wanted to push on a little further too.

We would come towards the next challenge as we moved further towards Sapphire City and then Nacrene City.


	8. Chapter 8

8: The Trubbish Squad and Ash's First Contest Ribbon

Once Archie and his Team Aqua goons left, we camped for the night on our way to Sapphire City for the next contest. But since our encounter with Archie, I haven't thought about what I would do for the contest. After dinner was finished we cleaned up and sort of did our thing. Ash and I never left each other's side since we were both afraid that Archie and Team Aqua might come back to kidnap or even worse try to kill us. Once we went to bed, with our Pokémon out to sleep outside their Pokéballs, I clung to Ash in our sleeping bag afraid that I might lose Ash; he means everything to me and I couldn't bear to lose him. While Iris, Cilan, Ash and I were asleep our Pokémon couldn't go to sleep, so they kept watch while we slept.

'Poor May,' Victini whispered to Snivy and Pikachu as they observed me holding Ash tight, 'I don't blame her for being so close Ash.'

'_It must be hard to know that you and the one you care about could be gone before you know it_,' added Ash's Snivy.

'_No_,_ no one_'_s going to die_,' Pikachu assured Victini and Snivy. '_Ash and May have just had some rough times in their journeys_,_ separate and together_.'

'_You might want to tell us what we_'_re getting into before we find out later_,' suggested Snivy after she gave a sigh. Victini gave Snivy a curt nod of agreement as he too wanted to know what he was getting into considering the fact that we had been attacked by enemies from our past; Pidove, Tepig and Oshawott woke up and gathered around Pikachu as they too wanted know what they had gotten themselves into. Axew was asleep next to Iris and didn't hear Pikachu's story.

Pikachu sighed and started telling the group everything starting from Ash's first encounter with Team Rocket in Kanto, to the battles against Team Rocket that became a major deal in Johto. Pikachu even told them how I met Ash, when he accidentally barbequed my bike and the struggles against Teams Aqua and Magma. Pikachu went into great detail about the fight to protect Manaphy from Phantom the Pirate and talked about the fierce battle against Team Galactic to keep Cyrus and his executives from creating a new universe in the Sinnoh region. Pikachu became bitter as he recounted how Ash, Brock and Dawn watched helplessly as they saw the Lake Trio become Cyrus's slaves.

Victini and Snivy listened eagerly to Pikachu's story and could feel his pain when he had told them about Latios giving up his life to save Altomare and the Lake Trio being forced to help Team Galactic. Pikachu told them that he and two others that were his Pokémon companions gladly lashed out in order to force Team Galactic to release Mespirit, Azelf and Uxie. Victini and Snivy were dumbstruck and couldn't understand why Pikachu would gladly attack humans unless they were evil. Then Pikachu finished his story about having to deal with a really wicked human named Kodai when he kidnapped Zorua and his mother Zoroark from their home here in the Unova region and almost killed Celebi just for the sake of keeping his power of seeing the future. Snivy had never heard of Celebi and had to borrow Relena's Pokédex from Iris and looked up the entry for Celebi.

'Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. Celebi has the ability to travel throughout time and only appears during peacetime.'

'_Huh_,_ that_'_s a nice Pokémon_,' Snivy said as she put Relena's Pokédex back with Iris.

'I saw Celebi with May's best friend and they performed in a Pokémon contest in Accumula Town,' said Victini.

'_A_… _Pokémon_… _contest_?' Snivy asked Victini in confusion.

'You perform in front of humans using your attacks in various combinations,' explained Victini. 'It's really fun. You should ask Ash to let you participate in the next contest; who knows you might like it.'

Snivy had a smile on her face as she said, '_I might just take you up on that_._ Are you participating in the contests_?'

'Brother Manaphy and I switch during contests,' answered Victini as he pointed to Manaphy. Snivy looked at Manaphy as she had no idea what kind of Pokémon Manaphy was. She once again grabbed the Pokédex and aimed it at Manaphy who was asleep next to the sleeping bag Ash and I share together.

'Manaphy, the Sea Faring Pokémon. Manaphy is known travel the seas searching for its birthplace. Manaphy is commonly referred as the 'Prince of the Sea' and protects an ancient temple.'

'Brother Manaphy calls May his mother,' Victini said to Snivy.

'_Why_'_s that_?' asked Snivy.

'May was the first thing that Brother Manaphy saw when he hatched from an egg,' explained Victini.

'_I see_,' Snivy said with a small smile as she figured that she made the right choice in choosing to be with Ash.

'Thank you Pikachu,' Victini said to Pikachu. 'I know for certain that Ash and May will need us to make others aren't hurt from your enemies.'

'_Yeah and with my strength_,_ your past won_'_t haunt you_,' added Oshawott. Every Pokémon had a sweat drop run down their heads as they heard Oshawott say that his strength was enough to fend off any foes. Then the Pokémon each went to sleep after they checked the area around our campsite to make sure that our enemies didn't come back for another attack. I had actually been half asleep when Pikachu told our Unova Pokémon about our past and the enemies we had ticked off before coming here to the Unova region. Once Pikachu finished his story I fell back to sleep and clung to Ash a little tighter. I felt a little safer as I held onto Ash. During the night, I felt Ash put an arm around my waist as he pulled me closer to him and I didn't resist. I guess Ash was afraid of losing me as much as I was afraid of losing him.

In the morning, Ash and I awoke to the sound of breakfast being made by Relena who had come during the night and joined the camp. At first I thought Relena had left us completely, but she came back I guess after seeing either the forest fire or hearing something from a Pokémon that our past had come back to haunt us. Ash was surprised to see Relena had rejoined us.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked Relena in a sarcastic tone.

"Can you blame a girl for trying to do my job and want some new Pokémon for my teams?" Relena countered back with a smile. "At any rate breakfast is served."

Ash shrugged his shoulders and apologized to Relena for being sarcastic and she told him not to dwell on it.

"I heard that your guys' past is coming back to haunt you," said Relena. "You two gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," I answered Relena as I got out of the sleeping bag. "Ash thinks maybe we should be avoiding people."

"That's not the best idea," said Relena as she put the cooked eggs and bacon on serving plates. "Besides you need friends who will be willing to help you. If you try to go the 'Lone Mightyena' routine with people here in the Unova region then you aren't going to have any friends here."

"But," protested Ash until he felt my hand on his right shoulder.

"Relena's right, we can't just drive people away because we're afraid that people might get hurt," I said as I gave Ash a peck kiss on his right cheek. "We need to have friends here and not be afraid that they'll get hurt."

"Hey, what smells so good?" asked a trainer that came along and noticed our campsite. She had short jean shorts, long brown hair in a short pony tail, a white baseball cap with a pink Pokéball symbol on it, a white sleeveless shirt and a black vest over her sleeveless tee. "Oh, I'm sorry could I join you guys for breakfast?"

Relena turned to me and Ash as she gave us the look as if to ask our permission. Ash and I gave her a slight nod as if saying that it was okay for the trainer to join us. Iris and Cilan had slept in as the new trainer came and joined us.

"I'm sorry," the trainer said as she sat down at a chair and table, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name Hilda Touko, I'm from Nuvema Town."

"My name is Relena Kaiou, I'm from the Ocean Kingdom of Neptune," said Relena much to Hilda's surprise as she then realized Relena was wearing the uniform of a soldier for the Royal Tsunami Defense Forces.

"May Haruka from Petalberg City in the Hoenn region," I said to Hilda as I brought Victini and Manaphy closer to me. Manaphy was still asleep and then he lightly wrapped his arms around my neck as he kept sleeping. Victini woke up as soon as he heard that breakfast was ready.

'What's for breakfast?' asked Victini before he noticed Hilda and decided to try and charm her. 'Hello pretty girl, have you ever wanted to meet a cute furry Pokémon up close and personal?' Victini let his eyes sparkle in sun as Hilda noticed Victini and then became infatuated with him.

"Oh my god, oh my god, he's so CUTE!" squealed Hilda as she took Victini in her arms and lightly hugged him and gave him a peck kiss on his forehead. "I never thought I'd see a Victini in person."

'It's good to be small, cute and furry,' said Victini as he blushed and smiled.

'Great a Pokémon that acts like Brock,' I thought as I had a sweat drop on my head and smiled to cover up my irritation.

Hilda's squealing woke Cilan and Iris up from their sleep and they saw Hilda with Victini in her arms. Cilan got out of his sleeping bag and approached the table with breakfast already on the table and noticed Relena and Hilda talking with each other. Cilan introduced himself to Relena and Hilda and they introduced themselves to Cilan and Iris as she approached the table and began to eat breakfast.

"I almost forgot, this is my boyfriend," I said to Hilda as I pulled Ash to towards me without him resisting. "His name is Ash Ketchum."

"Hi there," said Ash as he reached for a plate so he could eat breakfast.

"Are you from the Hoenn region like your girlfriend?" Hilda asked Ash.

"No, I'm from Pallet Town in the Kanto region," answered Ash as he seemed a little withdrawn.

"Aren't you glad Jessie, James and Meowth warned you?" Relena asked Ash and I. "I can tell since Ash isn't himself after getting jumped. Who jumped you guys?"

"Lawrence, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Archie and his Team Aqua goons," I answered for Ash.

"All of them?" asked Relena as she cocked an eyebrow in interest.

"No, not all of them," answered Ash. "One of Archie's commanders, Shelly, came and helped us out."

"Then Archie had his Kingdra use Draco Meteor and destroyed part of the forest and it made the local Pokémon upset and they attacked Team Aqua," I added.

"Huh, what are you guys talking about?" asked Hilda in confusion.

"They're talking about some enemies from their past coming back to get revenge," answered Relena.

"Oh man, that's gotta suck," said Hilda.

"Yeah," agreed Relena. "Ash is being a little withdrawn because he's afraid other people will get hurt because of our enemies. I helped Ash and May foil some of their enemies while they were traveling with each other."

Hilda thought about what we had said to her and then she shrugged her shoulders and said, "These bad guys you've faced before don't seem as bad as Team Plasma."

"Huh?" asked Ash. "Who's Team Plasma?"

"They're the Unova 'fashion freaks' that tried to capture Victini for themselves," I answered as I remembered those weirdos in Accumula Town. "And trust us Hilda, the criminal syndicates we've faced in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh are a lot worse than this Team Plasma."

"How do you figure that?" asked Hilda.

"Team Rocket tries to steal rare and powerful Pokémon for their boss," explained Ash. "Team Aqua wants to flood the Earth and make it an oceanic planet."

"And Team Galactic wants to create a new universe and will deal with anyone get in their way," I added.

"And that's not counting the associates that Team Rocket has in their services," continued Ash. "There's also Zero, Kodai, who kidnapped Zoroak and Zorua. The Pokémon Collector Lawrence III and I'll bet probably that one idiot noble from Alamos Town has a grudge against me."

"Man, you two certainly have a lot of enemies," commented Hilda as she took some scrambled eggs on a plate.

"Oh yeah," said Relena as she took a couple slices of bacon glazed with brown sugar. "Ash even has scars to prove it."

"Eh? Scars?" asked Hilda.

"Ash, you don't have to don't have to show her," I said to Ash.

"Oh man, what did you do to get scars from your enemies?" asked Hilda. Ash and I spent an hour explaining why Ash and I had scars from our enemies.

"Man, you guys certainly have a rough life," said Hilda.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that our life completely rough," Ash said as he regained confidence. "I met May and we fell in love with each other."

"Man, that has to have been the best breakfast I ever had," Hilda said as she set the dishes she used over by a bucket for dirty dishes. "I hate to eat and run but I've gotta go. I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend Hilbert in Sapphire City. I'm taking part in the Sapphire City Pokémon contest."

"Why not travel with us?" I suggested to Hilda. "My boyfriend is participating in the Sapphire City Pokémon Contest too."

Hilda thought about my offer and said, "Sure why not, I bet I could learn a thing or two from the girl whose called the Princess of Hoennn."

"Well, I don't think of myself as a princess per say," I said sheepishly. "I just consider myself as a Pokémon Coordinator. But I would be happy to teach you a few things about Pokémon Contests."

"Wait, you're not going to participate in the contest?" Ash asked me in concern.

"Yeah," I answered Ash.

"How come, you're not participating?" asked Hilda as she hoped that I would be in the contest.

"Well we have to make sure that our enemies won't try to attack us during the contest," I answered Hilda. "Besides, Ash doesn't have his first contest ribbon."

"I see," said Hilda a little disappointed.

Once the campsite was cleaned up, we made our way towards Sapphire City for the next contest. But along the way we saw a Pokémon Daycare with a Kindergarten school next to it with piles of trash surrounding a tree and a tree house. A teacher stood trying to talk to a group of children that were staying in the tree house. It seemed that the little children wouldn't listen to the teacher as she was trying to reason with them that the Pokémon that they were protecting had to go. The boy that was leading them wouldn't listen to their teacher and threw some things at her. Luckily for the teacher, Frost used his Ice Beam while being briefly perched on Relena's shoulder. Hilda noticed Frost getting off of Relena's shoulder and wanted to know what kind of Pokémon it was. But before she could pull out her Pokédex, the teacher and children took notice of the group that just happened to stop by and temporarily break up argument. The children went back in their tree house while the teacher stood there sighing in hopelessness.

"Hey what's going on here?" Hilda asked the teacher as we gathered around her.

"Oh, it's the children up in the tree house," began the Kindergarten teacher. "They have a Pokémon up there that I think doesn't belong here. It showed up one night and kids became attached to it despite the fact that it stinks."

"I'm guessing it's a Pokémon that has the ability Stench, correct?" Relena asked the teacher.

"Huh? What's the ability Stench?" Iris asked dumbfounded.

"Stench is an ability that keeps wild Pokémon away from you," I answered Iris, fighting off the urge to call Iris a kid. "And in battle, a Pokémon with Stench can make a Pokémon flinch."

"I guess Max had been teaching you some things about Pokémon," Ash said to me as he was impressed that I knew about the ability.

"And I'm glad he did teach some things about Pokémon," I said to Ash.

The kids then came out with a Pokémon that looked like a walking garbage bag with trash coming out of its arms.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Ash asked as he pulled out his Pokédex.

'Trubbish, the Trash Bag Pokémon. Trubbish are said to live in dirty areas and came to life when a trash bag came in contact with industrial chemicals,' chirped Ash's Pokédex.

"Intruders!" exclaimed the little boy who apparently stole Ash's hat and was wearing it on his head. "Ready the mud balls and FIRE!" The children readied the mud balls they had made and started throwing at us. Ash moved in front of me to shield me from the mud balls got hit by a couple of them. Relena just rolled her eyes and focused a little bit of her magic power and stopped the mud balls in midair.

"Now let's try and do things without having to fight," Relena said to the children as she still had the mud balls in the air and certainly amazed them and a few of our travelling companions. "Please put your mud balls down, come down here and let's talk like normal people."

"What makes you think we want to talk?" challenged the leader of the children.

"We just want to talk to you guys and see if we could come up with an agreement concerning Trubbish," I answered the children as I cleaned off the mud off of Ash's face. "Perhaps we can find a way to keep Trubbish here without having a fight between you guys and your teacher."

The lead child didn't want to listen so he threw another mud ball, this time it was thrown at me.

'Sorry children, but I can't have any mud balls thrown at my trainer,' said Victini as he used Psychic to stop the mud ball from hitting me.

"Huh? Who said that?" asked a few of the children as they looked to see who spoke to them in heads.

'Ahem, look to see the cute and furry Pokémon hanging on to pretty girl,' answered Victini as the children looked at Victini on my shoulder.

"Oh wow! She has a cute and adorable Pokémon," one little girl said to the other children as she pointed my little buddy Victini.

"If you want to see him, you've gotta come down from the tree house," I said to the children. "My boyfriend and our best friend have Pokémon that you can't find here in the Unova region."

"If you want to see them," added Relena, "then you gotta come down."

One by one the children slowly came down along with the Trubbish as he too was curious to meet these Pokémon that weren't from his home region.

"See isn't that better?" Relena asked the children as they got over the pile of trash to see our Pokémon. Relena let all of her Pokémon out of their Pokéballs as she made sure that she honored her part of deal. She let out her Celebi, Suicune and Gardevoir and Frost got off her shoulder to introduce himself. Pikachu got off of Ash's shoulder and joined Relena's Pokémon and introduced himself to the children. Ash let out his Pokémon to introduce themselves to the children. Manaphy got off my shoulder and played with the children and Trubbish.

"Wow, I must say there's certainly a lot of unique Pokémon here," the Kindergarten teacher's grandmother as she approached the school.

Hilda then pulled out her Pokédex and looked at all our Pokémon, starting with Relena's Pokémon.

'Articuno, the Freeze Pokémon. Articuno is said to appear to stranded travelers who are doomed and will guide to safety. Articuno is also thought to cause blizzards by freezing the moisture.'

"Cool," said Hilda as she pointed her Pokédex at Suicune.

'Suicune, the Aurora Pokémon. Suicune is said to purify fouled waters and controls the Northern Winds.'

"Awesome," said Hilda as she then pointed her Pokédex at the next Pokémon Relena had with her other Pokémon.

'Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. Celebi has the ability to travel throughout time and only appears during peacetime.

'Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokémon. Gardevoir will use its Psychic power to protect its trainer and create a small black hole.'

"Nice," said Hilda as she then turned to my Pokémon and aimed at my furry companion.

'Victini, the Victory Pokémon. Victini is said to have unlimited energy and will grant victory to anyone it sees fit.'

"Did that thing just say Victini?" asked the grandmother of the Kindergarten teacher as she walked over to the Kindergarten classroom. "As in the legendary Pokémon Victini?"

"Uh huh," I answered as Victini came back towards me and leapt in my arms, "and he wanted to come with me."

'I just wanted to have a journey of my own,' Victini said happily. 'So I joined May here.'

Hilda continued scanning my other unfamiliar Pokémon with her Pokédex.

'Manaphy, the Sea Faring Pokémon. Manaphy is born in the cold depths of the ocean and has been known to migrate back to its birthplace.'

"Sweet," said Hilda as she then aimed her Pokédex at Pikachu since she didn't look up Pikachu's entry.

'Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. The evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu gather together to release electric energy.'

Hilda giggled and said, "He's such a cutie." Pikachu seemed to like Hilda's complement as he scratched his head.

"He's been my Pokémon ever since I first started my Pokémon journey a few years ago," Ash explained to Hilda and the Kindergarten class.

The children were amazed as they looked at Pikachu and petted him. While Ash and the Pokémon played with the children, Relena took the Kindergarten teacher in the classroom with her grandmother and me.

"Alright, let's try and get this situation defused before we have the kids putting themselves in danger and also leaving Danielle here with a bad reputation," began Relena as all of us sat down to discuss Trubbish's fate.

"Look I don't have a problem with Trubbish," began Danielle as she defended her stance. "It's just that I don't think that it belongs in my Kindergarten classroom."

"Well the children seem like him and don't you think that maybe Trubbish could be helpful not just for the children but for you as well," said Relena as she tried to find common ground for kids and Danielle.

"How would Trubbish help me?" asked Danielle as she was interested to find out how Trubbish could help her.

"How many times do wild Pokémon come and eat up or trample on plants you and the children plant in a garden?" asked Relena.

Danielle was confused by Relena's question at first but thought about Relena's question as she remembered a few times that wild Pokémon had mistakenly thought that flowers were for them.

"Well, there was a few times when wild Pokémon ate some flowers by mistake," recalled Danielle.

"As I had said, Trubbish has the ability Stench and can keep wild Pokémon away from your plants and anything else you and the children plant as well as keeping burglars out of your classroom," said Relena as she hoped that Danielle would consider Relena's fine points about Trubbish.

After an hour of discussion, Danielle finally agreed to allow Trubbish to stay at the Kindergarten schoolhouse on the condition that it helps with keeping other wild Pokémon away from the garden and also protect the schoolhouse from burglars. The children were very happy to hear that Trubbish could stay with them and so was Trubbish. Once the trash around the tree house was cleared away, Danielle's grandmother gave Ash, Hilda and I each a Pokémon egg the next morning.

"If you can, try to find a Fire-type Pokémon that has either the Flame Body or Magma Armor ability," instructed Relena. "You eggs will hatch faster if you have a Pokémon with one of those abilities."

"That's a smart idea," said Danielle's grandmother. "Unfortunately, there aren't any Pokémon in the Unova region that have the ability Magma Armor."

"What about this Flame Body ability?" asked Iris as Hilda gave a nod too.

"Well, the only Unova Pokémon that I know have Flame Body is Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure, Larvesta and Volcarona," answered Danielle's grandmother.

Hilda looked at the Pokémon that Danielle's grandmother mentioned to them in her Pokédex and listened to her Pokédex describe each Pokémon to her and where they could be found.

"Well, I guess I know what kind of Pokémon I should catch next," said Hilda as she put her Pokédex away.

All of us waved goodbye to the children and the adults as we continued on to Sapphire City for the next contest. We kept traveling for a few hours until we heard someone coming from behind us.

"Wait!" called the person from behind as she ran towards us at full speed. "Wait up, I have something for you guys." As she said this, she plowed through Ash and Hilda causing them to fall backwards into the river we were traveling alongside. The girl crashed into a tree face first as Ash and Hilda got out of the river. I just shook my head as I got into my backpack and pulled out an extra set of clothes for Ash; if there was one thing I learned from his mother, it was to always be prepared and I had actually packed the outfit he wore when I first met him. It really held some sentimental value to me.

"Here Ash I made sure to pack an extra set of clothes for you," I said to Ash as I gave him the clothes brought him. Ash was surprised to his old Hoenn outfit again but smiled at me as I winked at him. Ash changed into his Hoenn outfit after getting out of his wet clothes and I have to say that Ash is still just as cute in his Hoenn outfit as he did when I first met him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," the girl said to us as she bowed in apology.

"It's okay Bianca," Hilda said to the girl as she turned to Hilda and recognized her right away

"You mean you know her?" Iris asked Hilda.

"Yeah, she's a childhood friend from Nuvema Town," answered Hilda after she changed clothes herself.

"My name is Bianca," Hilda's friend said with a smile on her face. "I have something for two trainers named Ash Ketchum and May Haruka; I have something for him from Professor Juniper." Bianca reached in her bag and fished around for the item she was supposed to deliver to Ash.

"Oh, where are they? I know they're in here somewhere," said Bianca as she looked frantically.

"O'fer, not again," Hilda huffed under her breath. "You still can't keep things organized in that bag of yours?"

Bianca ignored Hilda's comment as dug through her bag and finally pulled out a badge case that was really dirty. Hilda face palmed herself as she saw the dirty badge case.

"Some things never change," Hilda said aloud for all of us to hear.

"What's that supposed to mean?" challenged Bianca.

After a while and a little fiasco we had with a little Pokémon called Minccino as it stole the badge cases that were meant for Ash and I. Bianca unwittingly caught the little cutie as she pulled out a dirty Pokéball. The little Minccino saw the dirty Pokéball and was trying to clean as it hit the button to capture Pokémon in it. Minccino was sucked into the Pokéball and was caught by Bianca. Bianca was really happy that she caught Minccino for her team. In my head I whimpered because I wanted that little cutie for my team; heck, I think Ash's mother would've liked to have that Minccino helping her and her Mr. Mime around the house.

As luck would have it, another Minccino popped up and it was just as cute as the other Minccino Bianca caught. I decided that I would catch that Minccino for Ash's mother, I thought that Ash's mother would be happy to have another helper. I pulled out a Quick Ball as I wanted to catch Minccino without having to battle it. I decided to play on Minccino's necessity for tidiness against as I dropped the Quick Ball in Bianca's dirty bag before her Minccino got out and started cleaning it. I gave a smirk as I looked at the dirty Quick Ball and then Minccino.

"Oh man and I just bought this Quick Ball to use and now it's dirty," I whimpered as I hoped the Minccino would hear me and come try to clean the Quick Ball. The Minccino did in fact hear me as it came and was horrified to see how dirty my Quick Ball was. She came up close and personal to clean to the Quick Ball as she fell for my trick and was caught.

"Wow I can't wait to see you use Minccino in a contest," Hilda said to me.

"I'm sorry but this Minccino is going to Ash's mother," I said to Hilda.

"Wait you're sending it to my mom?" Ash asked me in surprise.

"Why else would I catch a Minccino?" I sweetly asked Ash as gave him a peck kiss on his cheek.

Bianca left the group as we continued to Sapphire City and finally made it before night fell on the town. We all checked into the Pokémon Center after meeting up with Hilda's boyfriend Hilbert. Hilbert wore a red and baseball cap with a black Pokéball on it, a black undershirt, blue jacket, black pants, red and black shoes and carried a black and blue satchel around his shoulder. When Hilda saw him she ran up to him leapt into his arms. Hilda's boyfriend at first was startled at first was startled when he saw Hilda running and leaping at him, but he regained his composure and caught her in his arms.

"Wow and I thought we had we had a crazy relationship," Ash said as we watched Hilda and Hilbert talking with each other and then coming over to us.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend Hilbert Touya," Hilda said as Hilbert let go of her. "Hilbert, these are some friends that I met on my way here."

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto region," Ash said to Hilbert as he extended his hand to him.

"I'm May Haruka," I said as I extended my hand out to Hilbert. "I'm from Petalberg City in the Hoenn region and Ash's girlfriend."

"Nice to meet both of you," Hilbert said to both of us as we shook hands with each other.

"Hey get this Hilbert," Hilda said to her boyfriend as she put her arms around Hilbert, "May and Ash are competing in tomorrow's contest."

"Really?" asked Hilbert surprised.

"I'm only doing this under protest," Ash said to Hilbert.

"Let me guess, your girlfriend signed you up without asking you," assumed Hilbert as it seemed that Hilbert had the same thing happen to him.

"Yup," answered Ash.

"Did you sign your girlfriend up for the…" began Hilbert as Ash gave him a nod.

"Unova Pokémon League, yes I did sign her up," finished Ash. Hilbert gave Ash a grin and a slight nod.

"So Ash, uh, what Pokémon are you using for tomorrow's contest?" asked Hilbert.

"I dunno yet," answered Ash. "What about you?"

"You got me," answered Hilbert. "I may just use Woobat for the contest."

"Like I said I have no clue which Pokémon I'll use for the contest," Ash said to Hilbert. "I may just call Professor Oak and see if he'll send me one of my Pokémon from his lab for me to use in the contest."

Victini heard Ash and Hilbert talking with each other, hopped off my left shoulder and headed over to Ash.

'Why not use native Unova Pokémon instead of using your other Pokémon from the regions you've already traveled to,' suggested Victini. 'Why not give Snivy a chance to be in a contest? She seemed open to the idea.' Hilbert was shocked to see Victini up close and personal.

"Is Victini your Pokémon?" Hilbert asked Ash.

"Nope, he belongs to my girlfriend," answered Ash as he pointed me as I was talking to Hilda.

"Oh man, he would be such a cool Pokémon to have," said Hilbert.

'Unfortunately for you, I'm not for trading,' Victini said to Hilbert as he came back towards me hopped back on my left shoulder

Hilbert fell to the ground anime-style when he had learned that my silly little buddy was off limits for trading.

After spending the evening together, all of us headed back to the Pokémon Center for the night before the contest. As always Ash and I shared the same bed together mostly because we didn't want to be separate from each other, but now it was because our enemies were going to go on a rampage to get revenge on us for foiling their plans and now we had to stay as close to each other. Victini and the other Pokémon lay on the floor around us; Victini and Manaphy wanted to stay on the bed with me and Ash, but the bed was big enough for them to sleep on especially with two people sleeping on it. Before I fell asleep, I gave Ash a gentle kiss on his forehead before wrapping an arm around him and fell asleep myself.

"And welcome everyone, young and old, to the Sapphire City Pokémon contest," said the contest MC as the crowd roared in excitement. "We have a big turnout for today's contest as we have special competitors from different regions here in the Unova region, so give them a warm Unova welcome." The cheered even as they didn't know which competitors weren't from the Unova. Other than Ash, Relena and myself, I wasn't aware of anyone else being from outside the Unova region.

"Our first competitor is a trainer from the Kanto Region who just recently won the Sinnoh League tournament," began the contest MC. "He's placed in the Top Eight in the Hoennn League and Silver Conference. This competitor also defeated the Orange Crew in the Orange Islands and had a Top Sixteen finish in the Kanto League. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town in the Kanto region." Ash then stepped on to the stage and took a deep breath.

"Snivy, let's go," said Ash as threw Snivy's Pokéball up and Snivy herself came out. At first Snivy looked around at the people who were eager to see what Snivy could, then she turned to Ash as he gave a curt nod.

"Okay, Snivy use Attract," ordered Ash. Snivy used her Attract which became a circle of hearts that were floating around.

"Now Snivy, use Leaf Tornado," continued Ash as I studied to see what Ash was doing. Snivy then used her Leaf Tornado which swallowed up the hearts from Snivy's Attract as the combination became bright colored hearts.

"Now Snivy use your Vine Whip," Ash said to Snivy as she flipped over and used her Vine whip at the glowing hearts as if they were balls. The crowd was cheering as they saw Snivy hitting the hearts around the stage as if they were balls.

"Snivy finish up with your Leaf Blade," finished Ash as Snivy's tail glowed with green energy as she then sliced the glowing hearts and caused them to explode with bright colors. Snivy held her hands and the audience gave her a standing ovation. Snivy then gave a slight bow.

"Well let's turn to the judges," the contest MC said as he turned to the three judges that we saw from the Accumula Town Pokémon Contest except the Nurse Joy from this town's Pokémon Center.

"That was truly remarkable," said the expert. "A wonderful display of cuteness and coolness as well. Snivy was a wonderful choice for this contest."

"That was a smart combination to use with Snivy," the Pokémon Fan Club president said as he commented about Snivy. "It combines Snivy's cuteness and smartness as well as coolness."

"There you have it," said the contest MC as Ash and Snivy waved at the crowd. "That's Ash Ketchum and Snivy!" Ash and Snivy waved to the audience and then went back to the waiting area where the other contestants were waiting at.

Some other contestants made their appeals and it came for Hilda to take the stage.

"Next we have new trainer from Nuvema Town; ladies and gentlemen, I give you Hilda Touka," the contest MC said as Hilda took the stage.

"Alright Dewott, make your stage presence known," said Hilda as she threw a Pokéball up and released a blue Pokémon that a lot taller than Oshawott and had two scalchops instead of one and both of them were located on its hips instead its chest. Hilda seemed nervous at first but then took a deep breath as she remembered the basics that I taught her about the appeals round.

"Alright Dewott, use Water Pulse," Hilda ordered her Dewott. Hilda's Dewott produced an orb of pulsating water and sent up in the sky.

"Now freeze it with Ice Beam," said Hilda as Dewott complied and froze the orb of water.

"Finish up with Focus Energy and Razor Shell," ordered Hilda. Dewott focused her energy while grabbing its scalchops, focusing them into a blade of water and then leapt up and slashed the frozen orb of ice causing it to explode and release a thick mist. Once the mist cleared the contest MC turned to the judges for their feedback.

"They did well for their first time a contest," said the expert. "This appeal showcased Dewott's toughness and coolness."

"I agree, they performed well for their first time," said the Pokémon Fan Club president. "But if I had to make a guess, I'd say they had someone teach them the basics because this appeal shows that the contestant was taught how to perform in the appeals round for the first time."

The Sapphire City Nurse Joy gave a slight and said, "With a little more love and training, Hilda and Dewott could certainly become much better in the future. As for the appeals round, I would give Hilda and Dewott a passing grade."

"Hmm, sounds like Miss Touka could listen to some wise advice and remember it for the next round," the contest MC said to the audience. The audience cheered for Hilda and Dewott as they both waved to the crowd and joined Ash and the other competitors in the waiting area as more competitors made their appeals to the judges. Relena and Celebi once again blew the crowd away with their appeal to the judges and kept their pristine reputation intact on the contest stage. The judges gave Relena a lot of praise for her and Celebi before they left the stage waving to the crowd. Another set of competitors went through and then finally it was my turn to the take the stage.

"Our last competitor is a big time celebrity in three regions," the contest MC said as he was described me. "She is known in the Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto regions as the Princess of Hoenn after winning the Kanto and Johto Grand Festivals. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you May Haruka of Petalberg City in the Hoenn region."

The crowd was ecstatic when I came to the stage with Manaphy on my shoulder. Manaphy and I looked at each other and then each other a nod as we took our turn.

"Manaphy, take the stage!" I exclaimed as Manaphy leapt off my shoulder.

"Wow we have another legendary Pokémon in this contest!" exclaimed the contest MC.

"Manaphy use Water Pulse," I said to Manaphy. Manaphy created an orb of pulsating water and sent it up in the air.

"Now use Ice Beam and freeze the orb," I instructed Manaphy. Manaphy used Ice Beam on the orb and froze it as it then fell towards the ground.

"Use Psychic and shatter the orb," I said to Manaphy with enthusiasm. Manaphy then used his Psychic attack and focused energy to shatter the orb as he leapt up in the air. The orb shattered beautifully and created snow white mist that covered as no one saw Manaphy or I as Manaphy leapt back in my arms and once most of the mist had cleared they saw Manaphy and I extending an arm out as we waited for a reaction from the audience. The audience loved our performance and went crazy with applause and many cheers.

"That was certainly something new from the Princess of Hoennn," the contest MC said to the crowd. "Now let's see what our judges have to say."

"The Princess of Hoennn has done it again," said the expert. "This was truly a creative performance showcasing coolness and cuteness."

"Remarkable performance," agreed the Pokémon fan club president.

"That is certainly one adorable little Pokémon, if I do say so myself," said Nurse Joy as some of the girls had hearts in their eyes and squealed, "Oh my god he's so ADORABLE!" Manaphy gave the ladies a wink and a gentle wave that made the ladies squeal even louder. Manaphy and I went back to the waiting area where Hilda and Ash were waiting for me. Victini was waiting for me as he was on Hilda's shoulder.

'Nicely done Brother Manaphy,' Victini said to Manaphy. Manaphy gave him a curt nod before Victini hopped back on my other shoulder.

The judges made their decision on who would make the next round and wouldn't make it. It just so happens that Hilda, Ash, Relena and I made it to the next round along with some other competitors Relena and Ash got stuck together in the same bracket while Hilda and I were in the same bracket. Hilbert managed to squirm out of competing in the last second. Hilda told Hilbert that she was going to have a serious talk after the contest. Hilbert gave a nervous smile as he couldn't wait to have a talk with his girlfriend. Relena and Ash swept the competition they faced until facing each other. This match was different as she ran out of points when facing Ash allowing him to advance to the next round. I wanted to give Hilda the opportunity to go to the final match; so until faced each other, both of us battled hard until we faced each other in the semi-finals. Deerling and I threw the match against Hilda and her Pansear as I wanted Ash to face someone other than me or Relena. It was going to be a perfect chance for Hilda to get experience facing a skilled trainer in a contest.

"And we have a very good match for the crowd today!" exclaimed the contest MC. "The rookie Coordinator from Nuvema Town against the Sinnoh League champion from the Kanto Region!"

Ash and Hilda approached the stage as they went to their respective sides. Ash had confident look on his face and then turned to the audience and saw me sitting close to the stage to watch the contest. I gave him wink and blew a kiss to him, which he caught and winked back.

"Now let's put five minutes on the clock," the MC said as five minutes were put on the clock. "And begin!"

"Let's go Dewott," Hilda said as she threw her Pokéball to the stage and revealed a blue otter with two scalchops on its hips.

"Snivy, I choose you," said Ash as he threw his Pokéball and revealed the little grass snake.

"Dewott, use Fury Cutter," ordered Hilda. Dewott pulled a scalchop and prepared to slam it down on Snivy.

"Snivy dodge it and use Leaf Tornado," countered Ash as Snivy dodged Dewott's Fury Cutter and countered with her Leaf Tornado attack. Dewott was struck hard by Snivy's Leaf Tornado. Hilda lost a good chunk of points when Dewott was hit by Leaf Tornado.

"Oh yeah, well try this," Hilda said to Ash. "Dewott, use your Ice Beam attack."

"Oh Snorlax!" exclaimed Ash in shock. Dewott fired her Ice Beam at Snivy, which caught her off guard. Snivy got struck by Ice Beam, but wasn't frozen. Ash lost points from Snivy getting hit by Dewott's Ice Beam.

"Dewott, quick, use Razor Shell before Snivy has a chance to recover," Hilda ordered Dewott. Dewott quickly pulled both scalchops and charged at Snivy.

"Quick Snivy, use Leaf Blade," countered Ash. Snivy got back on her feet and quickly darted at Dewott as she prepared her Leaf Blade and attacked Dewott. Dewott was struck before she could unleash her Razor Shell. That and the fact that Dewott was knocked out was enough for the judges to end the match.

"We have a winner!" exclaimed the contest MC. "Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town has won the Sapphire City Contest and the Sapphire Ribbon!" Ash was given the ribbon confirming that he had won the contest and then Ash being Ash, showed off with his excitement.

"I got the Sapphire Ribbon!" exclaimed Ash as Snivy leapt up in excitement.

Right and there I decided that Ash had a contest ribbon of his own, I wasn't going to go easy on him because he was a rookie Coordinator.

Once the contest was over, Hilbert and Hilda left for Nacrene City and hurried along quite quickly. Ash wanted to hurry to Nacrene city as well, but I wanted to rest while letting Hilbert and Hilda get a headstart on us. We checked into the Pokémon Center for the night and ended the day on a high note. We were anxious for the next day ahead of us.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Nintendo owns Pokémon; I do not own it, the characters or any elements relating to it. I'm just borrowing for the fun of it. Ahem, on to the chapter.

9: Zero Returns

After Ash won his first contest ribbon, we left Sapphire City and then proceeded to go to Nacrene City for both of us to get our second badge to get into the Unova League. Before we left in the morning Relena got a call on her cell phone.

"Kaiou, speaking," Relena said into her phone. I guess I forgot to mention that she was trained by someone who served in the Royal Tsunami Defense Forces in her home region. Relena then taught me how to fight and protect myself. At any rate Relena spent several minutes on her cell phone talking to someone important.

Iris was about come at me when Cilian stopped her and said, "I don't think fighting is going to bring any wonderful flavors to this group." I made a quick glance to Cilian and then back to Iris. Cilian has a way with words when he uses them with his cooking references.

"Come on let's just get to Nacrene City so we can get to the Nacrene Gym," Ash said as he was in a hurry to get to the next gym.

"Thanks for the update," Relena said to the person she was talking to on her cell phone. "Okay, keep me posted, over and out." Relena hung up cell phone and looked to us.

"What's up Relena?" I asked Relena as we started walking towards Nacrene City.

"I just got some bad news from Jessie, James and Meowth," answered Relena. "It seems that one of Ash's enemies from Sinnoh escaped from prison and is on the rampage."

"Please tell me it's not Cyrus," Ash requested Relena.

"Does the name Zero ring any bells?" Relena asked Ash.

"As much as I want say no, I'll have to say yes," answered Ash as he dropped his shoulders down.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" asked Iris dumbfounded.

"Zero, was some researcher's assistant," explained Ash. "He got greedy and wanted to take over someplace called the Reverse World where a Pokémon called Giratina lives. He wanted to take Giratina's powers and rule the Reverse World; but my other friends and I, along with a Pokémon called Shaymin, stopped him from taking over the Reverse World."

"Well, he's not the only one who's broken out of prison," Relena said to us. "It seems the Iron Masked Marauder broke out of prison as well." This time both Ash and I shook our heads in disbelief.

"Eh, how do you know the Iron Masked Marauder?" Ash asked me.

"He tried to catch a Celebi using an evil type of Pokéball," I answered Ash.

"Oh no, not again," Ash said as he face palmed himself. "I see he didn't learn his lesson the first time. He did the same with Relena's Celebi and the struggle almost cost Relena her life had her Suicune, Aurora, not stepped in and protected her."

"Man, you guys have a lot of enemies," said Iris, "too many enemies for my tastes."

"Unfortunately it can't be helped," I said to Iris.

"We should get moving before we get spotted by our enemies," suggested Relena.

"Agreed," said Ash as we began to move again.

After walking for two hours, Cilian had caught a new Pokémon to join him; this Pokémon was called Dwebble. Cilian was happy to have a new companion travelling with him and Pansage. After Cilian caught Dwebble we continued onward to Nacrene City for mine and Ash's second gym badge. As we travelled on, we found a few smoking craters and two people and their Pokémon lying on the ground unconscious. The people unconscious were definitely familiar to us as we saw Hilda and Hilbert lying there unconscious along with their Pokémon. We were shocked when we saw the carnage of their battle. We decided to camp there for the night and take care of Hilda and Hilbert while Iris and Cilian took care of their Pokémon. Relena took care of Hilda's wounds before moving to Hilbert. Once she took care of Hilda's wounds, she put Hilda in the sleeping bag that Ash and I usually sleep in. Relena took care of Hilbert's wounds as quick as she took care of Hilda's wounds. She used her magic power to heal both Hilda and Hilbert's wounds and then dressed their wounds. After she was done healing their wounds Relena called out her Pokémon and told them to sweep the area for any possible threats around the area. Once her Pokémon came back told her that they found no threats, we relaxed for a while then Relena suggested that we take turns keeping watch until sunrise. Ash and I agreed to that idea; Iris was against the idea. Cilian didn't care as long as he got to cook a meal. I don't think Ash and I were even hungry or even thought about food at the time.

Later after dinner we cleaned up and made another sweep around the area of our campsite to make sure that no enemies were around. We searched the area for an hour and a half and found no one, even when we asked local Pokémon that knew Foresight to help us. After searching the area, Ash, Iris and I returned back to the campsite to find that Hilda and Hilbert had regained consciousness and were talking to Relena.

"What happened to you two?" Relena asked Hilda and Hilbert as they stayed in our sleeping bag.

"We were attacked by some psychopath... screaming that he wanted revenge on Ash for depriving him of his right to take over the Reverse World," answered Hilda. "May and Ash... weren't kidding about their enemies; this guy seemed to be out for blood."

"They had some weird Pokémon... I've never seen," added Hilbert. "They looked like magnets."

Relena pulled out her Pokédex and found the entries and showed them Hilda and Hilbert.

"Yeah, those are the Pokémon that looked like magnets," Hilbert confirmed after looking at the Pokémon he described.

'Magnemite, the Magnet Pokémon. Magnemite are known to have greater magnetic force when rotate swiftly.'

'Magneton, the Magnet Pokémon and the evolved form of Magnemite. Magneton are said to appear when many sunspots dot the sun. Magneton can even keep television sets from working properly.'

"There was another Pokémon that looked like it had two magnets on the bottom and two antennae on the sides," added Hilda as she described another Pokémon, this one from was from the Sinoh region. Again Relena looked through her Pokédex and found the Pokémon Hilda had described to her and showed it to her.

"Yeah that's the Pokémon I saw," Hilda said to Relena as she looked the picture of the Pokémon she described.

'Magnezone, the Magnet Area Pokémon and the evolved form of Magneton. Magnezone evolved from exposure to a special magnetic field and changed its molecular structure.'

"Yeah that's the other one," Hilda said to Relena as she yawned and fell asleep. Hilbert decided to fall asleep as well and put an arm around Hilda's waist as he fell asleep. Everyone else fell asleep slowly until Ash and I were the last ones awake.

"Do you think maybe we should go face this Zero guy, Ash?" I asked Ash.

"As much as I'd like to get payback," began Ash, "we need to stay with our friends and make sure that no one hurts them." I gave Ash a nod and then a peck kiss on his cheek.

We fell asleep against the trunk of the tree that Iris was sleeping in. As I fell asleep, I wrapped my arms around Ash to feel safe especially since I didn't know much about that Zero guy, only what I heard from Relena and Ash. He seemed to be very dangerous and had to be stopped at all costs; but right then and there, I just wanted to sleep peacefully through the night.

The next morning, Cilian woke up early and made breakfast for everybody in the campsite. I woke up after Cilian started making breakfast and let Ash keep sleeping peacefully. I stretched a little bit and then swept the area to make sure that Zero wasn't in the area. While I checked the area, Ash and the others woke up slowly. Iris was the last person to wake up and didn't get much to eat as Cilian didn't have much to make enough breakfast for everybody. Relena looked to me and Ash and then spoke up.

"Why don't you two travel with us for a while," Relena suggested to Hilda and Hilbert. "I don't want you guys to get attacked by any of Ash and May's enemies if you guys travel alone."

"Maybe it would be best if we travel with you guys for a while," agreed Hilda. "If that Zero guy is going to attack anyone just to get to Ash, then we need to stick around." Hilbert gave a curt nod in agreement as he wanted to stay with Ash and maybe learn a thing or two from the Sinoh League champion. Hilda just shook her head as we helped clean up the campsite. While we picked up the campsite, Relena went around the forest to see if she could get some fruit for us as Cilian was low on food already and we would have to live off the land until we found somewhere to get more food for our journey. After an hour of gathering fruit and finding food packs that were left behind by trainers, Relena rejoined the group.

"Good news guys," Relena said to us, "I found some food packs that were left behind by trainers in the forest along with some freshly picked fruit."

"That's really good news," said Cilian as he felt relieved that he wouldn't have wait until we got to Pokémart.

"Well let's get going to Nacrene City," I said to the group as I knew Ash was going to become impatient if we didn't hurry and get to Nacrene City.

Everyone gave a slight nod and we continued to Nacrene City and hoped that Zero didn't attack us. Boy, were we wrong. As we made our way through an open plain, Relena heard something familiar to her coming at us.

"Huh?" asked Relena as she looked up in the sky and saw a faint silhouette. "ROCKETS, EVERYONE SCATTER!"

All of us looked up and saw the rockets coming on our group and we had to scatter as Relena instructed us to do. The rockets struck an empty field as a person on a hovercraft surrounded by Magnemite, Magneton and a Magnezone at his side. He looked at the smoke and hoped that Ash was in the smoldering craters dead, but saw that Ash wasn't in any of the smoldering craters. Zero became furious that he missed and didn't notice the Water Gun attack that came at him from Ash's Oshawott and knocked him off his flying platform. Once Zero got back on his feet and on his floating platform he saw the remaining smoke clear up and found that we were untouched by the rockets he shot at us.

"Heard you were looking for me," Ash said to Zero.

"Yes," answered Zero. "But I am also looking for your other friends and that foolish professor who denied me my right to rule the Reverse World."

"Psycho," Iris said under her breath.

Zero looked to Iris and shot her a dirty look and turned his attention to Ash again.

"Where are the rest of your pathetic friends?" Zero demanded Ash.

"I'm not telling you," answered Ash.

Zero had a mechanical arm that reached towards and grabbed me and reeled me in towards him. Ash didn't have to hear me scream to him as he instinctively came for me, climbing up a tree and launching himself as he threw a punch at Zero knocking him off the floating platform with a hard right hook. I think Zero had a broken jaw when Ash punched him. The mechanical arm let go of me and I fell with Manaphy and Victini still on both of my shoulders; luckily Ash caught me in his arms much to Hilbert's amazement.

"Now that's a guy who loves his girlfriend," observed Hilbert. Cilian gave a nod of agreement as both of them saw us give each other a kiss.

"So romantic," Hilda said before looking to Hilbert.

"Oh, get a room," said Iris as she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Ash and I didn't hear Iris's rude remark as we broke our embrace and then turned to face Zero. Zero turned to face Ash.

"I will rule the Reverse World," snarled Zero, "and you won't stop me. Magnezone, Magneton and Magnemite destroy all of them!"

All of the Magnet Pokémon started swarming us all of us called our Pokémon to try swat all of the Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone out of the sky. Most of our Pokémon obeyed us except Iris's Excadrill; instead it would curl up into its drill-like form and went to sleep. Iris was embarrassed that her Pokémon wouldn't obey her and I almost laughed at Iris but Ash put his hand on my shoulder and shook his head.

"I know how Iris feels," Ash said to me. "Besides I told you about how my Charizard wouldn't listen to me. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that her Excadrill probably doesn't think that Iris is good enough for him to be with."

We continued to try fighting off the Magnet Pokémon but every time we knocked down one or two, more would take their place and continue.

Our Pokémon began to get exhausted until an explosion knocked out a cluster of Magnemite and Magneton. Ash and I turned to what caused the explosion and we saw Ash's travelling buddy from the Sinoh region, Dawn and her Pokémon Shaymin in its Sky Form. Dawn had a longer dress this time that went down to her knees. Her dress was pink with blue pockets along the chest area and she had black jacket over her dress that went down above her waist. I noticed that she didn't wear the white stocking cap she wore when I met her for the first time at Lake Valor.

"Whoa, what kind of Pokémon is that?" asked Hilda as she pulled out her Pokédex and aimed it at Shaymin.

'Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokémon,' chirped Hilda's Pokédex. 'When exposed to Gracidea flowers, Shaymin changes form and has the ability to take flight. Shaymin can also have flowers covering its body when it senses gratitude and hugged lovingly.'

"Gratitude Pokémon, huh," said Iris as she readied a Pokéball thinking it would be a wild Shaymin. "That's such a sweet Pokémon; I gotta have it."

"Don't bother," said Relena, "Shaymin belongs to our friend Dawn."

"Speaking of which, what brings you to the Unova region?" Ash asked Dawn.

"Hearing about him," Dawn answered Ash as she pointed to Zero. "You certainly know how to make a girl angry when she has to blow off a photo shoot just to deal with you."

Zero gave no response to Dawn's accusation but motioned for his many Magnemites and Magnetons to continue their attack on us. Shaymin got off Dawn's shoulder and began using his Seed Flare attack to clear out many of the Magnetons.

Within thirty minutes, many of the Magnemites and Magnetons gave up as they were too tired to continue. Zero wasn't worried because a lot more Magnemites and Magnetons in his weird looking ship which appeared.

"You will all fall and them I can take the Reverse World," Zero said as he watched us get overwhelmed his hoard of Magnemite and Magneton.

"What is this Reverse World you keep talking about?" Iris asked Zero.

"A place where I can rule this world as well," answered Zero.

"Okay, that still doesn't help," said Hilda as she ducked under a Magnemite's Thunderbolt and her Snivy counter back with a hard Vine Whip attack.

Despite Dawn and Shaymin's help we were getting overrun and tired from knocking out many Magnemite and Magneton. Things looked grim for us until we saw a hole appear in the lake and Pokémon came out of it attacking the large hoard of Magnemite and Magneton. A vast majority of the Magnemite and Magneton were knocked out by the shockwave from the Pokémon's attack. Most of us were surprised to see Pokémon, let alone that it was powerful.

"What Pokémon is that?" Iris asked as Hilbert pulled out his Pokédex.

"It's Giratina," answered Ash as he recognized the flying dragon Pokémon coming out of hole in the lake.

Zero gritted his teeth as he was far from his new ship and had no choice but to retreat having his big group of Magnemite, Mangneton and Magnezone follow him.

'I've got a bad feeling he'll be back,' said Victini as he and Manaphy looked worried for my safety.

"Don't worry next time he shows his ugly we'll be ready for him," said Relena. "Besides if you guys have Pokémon that know Fire, Ground and Fighting type moves then you'll have no trouble beating them."

"Why those three type of moves?" asked Hilda.

"Because Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone are all part Steel and part Electric," I answered Hilda.

'Well May, you're in luck because I am part Fire,' Victini said to me as he winked to me.

"I have a Ground type," said Iris, "but he doesn't listen to me. I wish Excadrill would listen to me."

"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say maybe he thinks you're not good enough for him," Ash suggested to Iris.

"Huh, he thinks I'm not good enough for him?" Iris asked Ash surprised before letting her face become red with anger.

"Look it's nothing to get angry over," Ash said to Iris with sweat drop on his head. "I've been through that before; I had a Pokémon that thought I wasn't good enough until I finally earned his respect."

"Ash is right, besides it'll take time for your Pokémon to trust you," I added.

Once we got past the smoldering craters and rested our Pokémon, we proceeded to enter the forest where Hilda caught a Panpour for herself as she didn't have a Water type Pokémon for herself, and an Illumise in a rare Pokémon swarm with some Volbeat following them, which we were fortunate to witness and a Purrlion. Hilda said that she was very lucky to see Pokémon from my home region as we went through Route 3. Before the swarm Volbeat and Illumise went to a different area, a couple pairs Volbeat and Illumise circled around Ash, myself, Hilbert and Hilda.

"What are they doing?" Hilda asked me and Ash as she noticed that we were amazed at the Volbeat and Illumise.

"They gather around couples and perform a dance as their way of blessing the couples they see," I answered Hilda. "And they're performing a dance for you and Hilbert, as well as Ash and me." We watched the Volbeat and Illumise perform a beautiful dance before moving to a different location.

"Wow, I certainly feel blessed," said Hilda as she wrapped her arms around Hilbert's waist from behind him and laid her head on his shoulder. Hilbert gave a slight of agreement as he laid his head on Hilda's head.

Iris rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. I guess she didn't like watching couples being lovey-dovey with each other. Ash and I wanted to hurry and get to Nacrene City before Zero showed up. Everyone agreed and we got back to travelling along Route 3. We once again stopped so Hilbert could catch a few Pokémon for himself. He caught a Pidove, a Roggenrola and a rare chance to catch an Oshawott for himself. Ash's Oshawott was happy to see that another Oshawott was joining the group. Dawn had caught a couple Pokémon herself to join Piplup and Shaymin; she caught a Lillipup that she evolved into a Herdier and the sunglasses wearing Sandile that was constantly following us. Ash was really surprised to see that Sandile again. After a few stops, the day turned to night and we had to camp out before we had a chance to reach Nacrene City. As we set up camp, Pikachu climbed up a tree to take the first watch. Like the last campsite, we were camped by a lake for good measure and in case Zero returned and so Giratina could come out and help us again.

In the morning, we were right back at it with Zero as he came back with his swarm of Magnemite, Magneton and Magnezone. Like clockwork, Giratina came back to help us again and this time he saw that Iris had a Dragon Pokémon with her and began to think about travelling with a human. Back to the fight with Zero, he tried to overpower us with numbers again until the local Pokémon saw our predicament and helped us fight back and overpowered Zero's Pokémon instead forcing Zero to retreat for second time angrily. Once the battle was over, Giratina looked at Iris with interest but called to Relena asking her to translate what he would say to Iris. Relena gave Giratina a curt nod and Giratina called to Iris.

"Human, I would like a word with you," Relena said on Giratina's behalf as she recited Giratina's exact words.

"What are you talking about Relena?" Iris asked Relena. "You know my name; it's Iris and don't forget it."

"I'm translating what Giratina wants me to tell you," Relena informed Iris.

"Oh," said Iris as she looked to the big legendary Dragon/Ghost Pokémon. "I apologize Giratina; what is it you want to say to me?"

Giratina spoke to Iris and Relena translated what Giratina said to Iris.

"I see that you are a Dragon Pokémon trainer," began Relena on Giratina's behalf, "and I wish to join you and help you become a better Dragon Pokémon trainer. If you would allow me to accompany you on your journey to become a great Dragon trainer, I can help you and any other Dragon Pokémon you catch reach your potential."

Iris was at a loss for words and I couldn't blame her. It wasn't everyday that a legendary Pokémon offered to accompany any trainer to aid them with their dreams.

"Yes, Axew and I would be happy if you came with us," said Iris as she produced a Pokéball and threw it at Giratina. Giratina went into the Pokéball without so much as a contest and after three clicks, Iris had caught Giratina for her team.

"Alright Axew, we got Giratina," Iris said with enthusiasm. Axew leapt up in agreement and excitement.

"Well now that Zero is gone for moment, I suggest we head to Nacrene City without any more delays and detours," said Relena as she began to lead us towards Nacrene City.

We picked up our things and followed Relena towards Nacrene City without any delays again.

After walking for a couple of hours, we finally reached Nacrene City and wondered what challenges awaited us for our next gym battle and wondered who the gym leader was. Right then and there we weren't in the mood to figure out those things because we were tired and wanted to check into the Pokémon Center for the next two days. [Sigh] That's a lot of talking for now; you'll have to find what happens next later.

**Ash:** What happens next? Ah, come on May, you can tell me?

**May:** I love you Ash, but not that much to tell you everything. Besides you were there, so I don't need to tell everything else. [To the readers] Please read and review this chapter. The author would like to know what you think of the chapter and he apologizes for the long wait for the chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Pokémon, Nintendo owns all the characters and elements and I'm just borrowing it. May is still telling the story so you guys don't forget. Please **review** this chapter and tell me if you like this chapter

10: Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea… a Recollection At Least.

After we arrived at the Nacrene City Pokémon Center, everyone found the rooms that we booked. Iris wondered why Ash and I slept in the same bed together and I just ignored her while resisting the urge to lie and tell her something that would make her back off and leave us alone. Like Ash and I, Hilda and Hilbert slept together in the same bed together at a Pokémon Center and in a sleeping bag. We quickly set our bags in our rooms and then went to the lobby and got our Pokémon healed. While waiting we all sat together around a makeshift table made up of four ottomans. Hilda looked to me as I looked at the examining room being concerned about Manaphy as I heard a soft cry from Manaphy while he was being healed along with my other Pokémon. Once they were healed, Victini and Manaphy came out of examination room with Nurse Joy.

'We're healthy and ready to charm the ladies,' Victini said happily as he leapt off Nurse Joy's shoulder and landed on Hilda's lap as he charmed her into giving him affection.

"You know you're May's Pokémon, right?" Hilda asked Victini as she scratched behind his ears.

'I do know that,' Victini answered with a big smile on his face as he enjoyed Hilda giving him attention and affection, 'but just because I'm May's Pokémon, doesn't mean that I can't get attention from other human girls.'

Manaphy leapt into my lap enjoyed the affection I gave him. Hilda looked at Manaphy with interest as she saw that I treated Manaphy as if he were my own son.

"So tell us May," began Hilda as she held Victini in her arms, "how did you catch Manaphy?"

"Catch Manaphy?" I asked Hilda with a slight chuckle. "I didn't catch Manaphy; he hatch from an egg and then we formed an inseparable bond."

'Tell us what happened,' requested Victini as he was interested in what I had to say about how Manaphy became part of my life.

Flashback

3rd person POV

Three years ago

En route to the Battle Arena

May and her travelling companions were on their way to Ash's next Frontier Challenge to conquer the Kanto Battle Frontier and for May to get to the next contest. But it seemed that Mother Nature was making things difficult for them as temperature had soared at least to 95 degrees Fahrenheit and a heat index into the hundreds. Everyone was certainly hot and thirsty as the searing heat was sapping their strength.

"Man, I'm thirsty," whined Max Haruka, May's little brother. "Gimme some water May."

"Just don't drink it all," May said cautiously as she gave Max her canteen.

"I won't," said Max as he opened the canteen only to find that it there was only a few small drops of water left in her canteen.

May snatched her canteen and said to Max, "I told you not to drink it all."

"It wasn't really full you know," commented Max, "but now I'm even thirstier then before."

Before Ash, May, Max and Brock could continue walking Brock raised his hands as he saw a Roselia aiming a flower end at him. Everyone then saw a Gardevior and an Absol each preparing attacks if they didn't give up. After being led to a trailer nearby, the Gardevior went into the trailer and came out with a girl that May and Ash recognized.

"Relena?" Ash and May asked the girl in shock.

"Eh, what are guys doing with your hands on your head?" Relena asked Ash, May, Brock and Max.

"Why don't ask your Pokémon?" Max shot back angrily.

"Please, you don't have to keep your hands on head anymore," Relena said as she motioned for them to put their hands down. "I apologize, but we had a couple of robbers try to feign injury and try to steal stuff from the group I'm on assignment with."

"Assignment, you mean with Pokémon Rangers?" asked Brock as he caught on to what Relena said to them.

"Yeah, that's right," answered Relena. "Hey, let me introduce you to the people I'm on assignment with. I can't tell you why I'm on assignment with them but you'll find out from hanging out with us."

"Sure why not," said Max eagerly.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"A family that does an underwater Pokémon Circus?" Iris asked in amazement as the group listened to my story.

"Yup," answered Ash. "We were amazed when we saw them. Their show was amazing as they let us travel with to see one of their shows."

'Please continue your story,' requested Victini as he sat on Hilda's lap this time.

Flashback

3rd Person POV

Three years ago

En route to Battle Arena

"Would you like a lift to the next town?" Kai's father asked Ash and company.

"Yeah, that'd be great," answered Ash as he looked up from tending to his Pokémon as they ate some of Brock's specially made Pokémon food. As they were preparing to leave the town, the family's Buizel carried out a container that Relena was watching from a distance, as it seemed that an event that her Suicune had predicted was coming true. The Buizel stumbled as it lost its grip of the container and May happened to close by, catching the canister and accidently pressed a button revealing the contents to be just a Pokémon egg. May studied the egg as it was different from every other Pokémon egg she had seen before. This egg was blue with what appeared to have a crown of gold dots surrounding a red yoke in the center.

As May was studying the egg, a circus clown approached May and Buizel taking the canister with the egg in from May's hands and silently got after Buizel before joyfully prancing away and giving the container to Elizabeth to put away in their truck out of sight. However, May didn't spot Team Rocket spying on her and the egg she was looking at. Once the egg was taken from May's hands, Team Rocket left their perch on a roof to find a newsstand and purchased the latest copy of the Team Rocket Gazette. James skimmed through the magazine looking to see if he could find a picture of the egg they saw during reconnaissance on Ash and company.

"What are gauging at?" Jessie asked James as he flipped through the magazine.

"The Team Rocket Gazette," Meowth answered for James as he finally found the picture he was looking for.

"Here it is," said James as he showed the picture of the egg May looked at with Buizel.

"Pursued by the Phantom," read Meowth as he read the article.

"I think cluing him into this kind of dirt would entitle us to a piece of what must be big treasure," added Jessie.

"I love that word," said Meowth as thought about the word.

Elizabeth hid away the egg on a shelf behind a curtain.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"So these Team Rocket guys chased you for the egg just to get a part of some treasure?" asked Hilbert after coming back from a vending machine getting drinks for all of us.

"Yeah, they followed us to try and steal the egg so they could get money to fund their crazy schemes to steal Pikachu and our Pokémon," I answered. "But what happened next really changed my world."

"I'm game," said Hilda as she opened the can of soda Hilbert set on the ottoman, "please continue."

Flashback

3rd Person POV

Three years ago

En route to the Battle Arena

The circus family had decided to stop for the night by a roadside river with a waterfall. Everyone was fast asleep including all the Pokémon. Everyone and all the Pokémon were asleep except for Buizel. The small water Pokémon found where the container holding the egg and revealed it to the moonlight. May was tossing and turning as she couldn't sleep. The only human not asleep was Relena as she was patrolling the area around the campsite for crooks, Team Rocket and Phantom the Pirate. While she was patrolling around the area, she looked towards the truck and trailer everyone else was sleeping in. That's when she saw it happen; a red glow came from the truck doing something to the occupants inside the truck.

"So the Pokémon inside the egg is choosing someone to escort it to the Sea Temple," said Relena as she watched the scene unfold, "and I think I know who the Pokémon Manaphy is choosing." Relena smiled as she thought Manaphy was choosing May to escort him to Samiya.

Inside the truck as the egg was glowing, May all of sudden felt as if her soul had left her body and was surrounded by hundreds of water Pokémon. May was in awe of the many water Pokémon she saw in her dream and felt happy until she saw an underwater temple protected by a barrier to keep the water out of the temple. May was confused as to why she saw an underwater sea temple. As she looked at the temple, a little blue Pokémon covered in a soft white light. The Pokémon had two antennae on its head, what appeared to be a red gem on its chest and yellow dots above its eyes. The little blue Pokémon circled around May, which brought some excitement to her. The little blue Pokémon then swam to the underwater sea temple.

"Wait, don't go!" exclaimed May as she woke up from her dream.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

'You saw Brother Manaphy in your dream?' Victini asked me in amazement.

"Uh huh," I answered my furry little companion as I petted him on his head just the way he liked it. "Later during lunch I told everyone about my dream that I had."

Flashback

Third Person POV

Three years ago

En route to Battle Arena

"Last night I had the strangest dream," May said to everyone sitting down at the two tables that were next to each other. "A Pokémon I've never seen before was travelling to some sort of an underwater sea temple."

"Sea Temple?" asked Brock in interest.

"Sounds cool, I wish could've gone to see it," said Ash as he listened to May explain her dream.

"Yeah," agreed Max, "but that was just a dream."

"Father," Kai said to his father.

"I've heard stranger things," Kai's father said to the group.

"Tell me have you heard of the People of the Water?" Meredith asked May.

"No, who are they?" asked May.

"Uh, you two do the honors," Kai's father said to Meredith and Elizabeth.

"Truth is, I've had the same the exact same dream too," began Elizabeth.

"Our family is made up of descendants who called themselves the People of the Water," added Meredith.

While Elizabeth and Meredith explained things to Ash, Brock and Max, Team Rocket had entered the trailer looking for the egg the Phantom was looking for.

"Don't worry treasure," said Jessie as she searched the trailer for the container, "Jessie's here to bring your valuable self home."

"No hiding," added James as he searched low.

Jessie found the container with egg in it.

"Not another egg," whined Meowth.

"Another egg my eyes," said James as he and Meowth put a hand each on the container. Once James and Meowth put a hand on the container that Jessie had her hands on. The container began to glow and made Team Rocket glow forcing them into a trance.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"That's really funny," Dawn said as we all laughed after I told them about Team Rocket falling victim to Manaphy's Heart Swap.

"Yeah, I remember them trying to get away with the egg on a pedal powered blimp," said Ash as he joined in. "I was going to have Pikachu use Thunderbolt but a Pokémon Ranger disguised as a clown stopped me and with the help of a flying Pokémon, Pikachu got the egg back and that's when the clown revealed himself to be a Pokémon Ranger."

"But while he was explaining his and Relena's mission, Phantom the Pirate showed up," I said as I sat back and looked at the ceiling. "And that's when it happened."

"What happened?" asked Iris.

"Manaphy hatched from his egg and I became a mother," I answered Iris.

Flashback

Third Person POV

Three years ago

En route to the Battle Arena

"It's Phantom!" exclaimed Relena's partner, Jack Walker… ahem, call him Jackie please. "He must've followed us all the way here."

Two Pokéballs were thrown out of a helicopter to release two Beedrills that started attacking the group that had gathered around Jackie as he explained the mission he and Relena were on. Everyone didn't have to be told to run from both Beedrills using their Twinneedle attack. Then both Beedrills chased after the group as they were intent on getting the egg or destroying anyone getting in Phantom's way. Kai's father, Elizabeth, May, Max and Brock split off from Ash and Jackie. Unfortunately, Kai's father, Elizabeth and Brock had split off from May and Max because a Beedrill tried to attack Kai's father. Ash and Jackie had the Manaphy egg in their possession as they now had to deal Phantom and his top lieutenant Galen.

"Remember there are only two types of men in this world," began Phantom the Pirate, "those who do the chasing and those you are chased; I know which role is better. I go for the role of chaser every time."

Phantom and Galen caught up to Ash and Jackie.

"Pokémon Ranger, now I suggest it's time for you to finally learn the meaning of 'give up' once and for all," Phantom said to Jackie.

"It's a shame you had to come all this way," countered Jackie as he took a cloth and covered the container with it. "But I'm afraid you'll have to go home empty handed." Jackie and Ash ducked behind a boulder and Jackie then ran from behind boulder with an object covered by the cloth he had used to cover the container.

"Why you impudent!" exclaimed Phantom as he chased after Jackie.

"Ah you impudent," repeated a Chatot that accompanied Phantom.

Ash waited until Phantom and Jackie had left and went the opposite direction. Only when Phantom realized he had been tricked yet again by Jackie, he went after Ash to get the egg from him. Ash had rejoined with May and Max; but Galen had found them as he was accompanied by one of the Beedrills that had been released for battle.

"You think you're so smart," Galen sneered at Ash. "Now Beedrill, use Pin Missile."

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt," countered Ash. Pikachu let loose a powerful Thunderbolt as it cancelled out Beedrill's Pin Missile. "Let's go!"

"Stop them with Sludge Bomb, Beedrill," Galen ordered Beedrill as it what it was told.

Ash was thrown back by the Beedrill's Sludge Bomb and let go of the container holding the egg.

"Hey May," Ash called to May as the container went towards her and she caught it.

"Back to the trailer," Ash ordered May, "those guys are all after the egg."

"Got it Ash," acknowledged May as she and Max turned to head towards the trailer.

"Pikachu, Volt Tackle," ordered Ash as Pikachu then charged at Beedrill cloaked in electric energy and struck the Beedrill head on.

While May and Max headed towards the trailer, the egg started glowing indicating that it was ready to hatch. As it was hatching, Phantom finally caught up to May and Max and leapt down to retrieve it from someone he thought would be weak. As Phantom jumped down, May tucked the container close to her, instinctively ran on a rock wall and gave Phantom a powerful roundhouse kick that knocked out a canine out of his mouth. Max was shocked that May had it in her to give someone taller a powerful roundhouse kick, let alone knock a tooth out of the guy's mouth.

But just because the Phantom lost a tooth didn't mean that he wasn't going to take the egg from May and Max.

"Now that belongs to me," Phantom demanded to May.

"No, Manaphy doesn't belong to anyone," shot back May.

"Anything that has no owner belongs to m…" Phantom began to say until Max started to stretch his mouth like an accordion.

"Don't you dare touch my sister," demanded Max as he, May and Phantom struggled over the egg.

Phantom pulled off the lid of the container trying to get the egg, but May was pulling back the container with all her might. As the container's lid opened, the egg came out and was falling to the ground fast. May threw the container and dove for the egg as Max had let go of Phantom's mouth and had been thrown back from the force of Phantom letting go of the lid. May then caught the egg and stood up breathing a sigh of relief until the egg started to hatch. Jackie had arrived in the nick of time to take the egg from May except for one little problem. Someone had thrown a sword and blocked Jackie's path and then stood on top of the handle. All the men recognized the person as Relena Kaiou.

"Relena, move aside," requested Jackie.

"None of you will pass," Relena said to the men sternly.

"We don't have time for your religious junk or whatever," Jackie said with a hint of irritation.

"I said none of you will pass," Relena said louder and sternly as she turned and saw the egg hatching to reveal the baby Manaphy.

Manaphy opened its eyes and saw May who gave him a nervous smile.

'_Mama_?' Manaphy asked May before he started crying like a newborn baby.

"Oh its okay, everything's going to be just fine, just fine," May said to Manaphy, trying to calm it down.

"The egg hatched," Jackie said softly.

"Egg hatched, egg hatched," repeated Chatot as it flew in circles.

"But I was gonna use my own two hands to hatch Manaphy," whined Phantom as May walked off with a crying Manaphy.

"Manaphy, Manaphy," Chatot said twice, still flying around in circles.

Once Phantom had been temporarily disposed of, the group sped off towards a different direction instead of going to the next town. In the trailer May truly showed that she could be a mother, even to a baby Pokémon.

"There, there, don't cry sweetie, don't cry sweetie, don't cry," May said sweetly as Manaphy stopped crying and began to fall asleep in May's arms.

Right behind them was Phantom and two other helicopters escorting Phantom's chopper.

Back in the circus family's trailer, May had sat down with Manaphy asleep in her arms.

"I think we're finally calming down," observed Elizabeth.

"Manaphy must be tired," added May as she looked at the sleeping figure of the blue Pokémon she had seen in her dream.

"I can take over for you," Meredith offered May as she held out her arms to take Manaphy from May. May graciously accepted and handed Manaphy to Meredith.

Once Manaphy was Meredith's arms, he began to cry again as he could sense that he wasn't in May's arms.

"Not again," moaned Meredith as she tried to stop Manaphy from crying. "Stop, please. May, I'm afraid Manaphy prefers you." Meredith handed Manaphy back to May as she once again calmed Manaphy down and he went back to sleep.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"Wow, you're really lucky May," Bianca said as she had joined the group while I was talking about how I became Manaphy's mother.

"That's what Elizabeth said after she saw that Manaphy thought of me as his mother," I said to Bianca.

'What happened after Brother Manaphy hatched?' asked Victini as he was really into the story.

"We went to a ruined temple where the circus family explained a few secrets that they protected," I answered Victini.

"I didn't know that you were a descendant of the People of the Water," said Iris.

"Do you still see the underwater sea temple in your dreams?" asked Hilda.

"Yes, I still see the temple in my dreams," I answered Hilda.

"Our friend Brock thought it was amazing that the People of the Water had a memory written in their DNA," added Ash. "Hey May, does your brother see the temple in his dreams?"

"He started seeing the temple in his dreams just last year," I answered Ash. "But let me continue my story.

'Please, you certainly have me interested,' said Victini as he laid his furry back on Hilda.

Flashback

3rd person POV

Three years ago

Ruined temple, en route to the Battle Arena

May looked at the illuminated murals and recognized the mural of the temple.

"Eh, it's exactly like I saw it in my dream," May remarked to the group around her.

"That's the temple, Samiya," Elizabeth said proudly.

"Samiya?" asked Ash in confusion.

"Within the Temple there's a treasure called the Sea Crown," added Meredith.

"Sea Crown?" asked Brock in confusion.

"Many thieves have attempted over the years to steal the Sea Crown," Kai's father said as he was putting his two cents in.

"So to protect the Sea Crown and the temple itself, the People of the Water set traps around the temple," added Meredith.

"What kind of traps?" asked Max.

"The temple cannot be seen by the eyes of the mortals," answered Kai.

"Wow, how's that?" asked May.

"It blends in with sea," answered Kai.

"Once the temple was carried away by the tides," added Kai's father.

"And since then, the temple has drifted along endlessly," said Kai.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

'Wait a second, how were you able to find this temple, Samiya?' Dawn's legendary Pokémon, Shaymin, asked telepathically as it had stayed silent for most of my story.

"Huh? Who said that?" asked Bianca as she searched for the voice who spoke.

'Ahem, right here,' answered Shaymin as she hopped on Dawn's shoulder.

Bianca took one look at Shaymin and Shaymin said, 'Boo.' Bianca freaked out when Shaymin scared her. Bianca then pulled out her Pokédex and aimed it at Shaymin.

'Shaymin the Gratitude Pokémon. Shaymin is said to transform when exposed to Gracidea Flowers and grows new Gracidea flowers wherever they stop.'

"Oh my, it's so adorable!" squealed Bianca.

'Well I belong to Dawn, so… you're out of luck,' Shaymin said to Bianca much to her disappointment.

"Why do all the cute Pokémon not wanna be with me?" whined Bianca.

'I think anyone can answer that question,' said Victini with a sweat drop on his head.

'I wanna keep hearing May's story,' said Shaymin as she got back on Dawn's lap. 'What happened next?'

"Well Jackie tried to get us to back off from his and Relena's mission," I answered Shaymin. "But we boarded the ship and took a detour to go to Samiya after Manaphy used his Heart Swap on Ash and Jackie."

"That was the weirdest experience in my life," remarked Ash. "But there was that one time when we heard Relena and Jackie arguing."

"Everyone on board the ship could hear the arguing," I added.

Flashback

Three years ago

3rd person POV

En route to Samiya

"Why can't you understand that Manaphy doesn't belong with that trainer?" Jackie asked Relena as their conversation was turning into a heated argument.

"And why can't you see that it's not our policy to dictate whither or not trainers can catch Pokémon?" Relena snarled back. "Legendary or not, we have no right to tell trainers that they can't catch legendary Pokémon."

"I'm only trying to do what's best for Manaphy!" Jackie shouted at Relena.

"When did you become a social worker for Pokémon?" roared Relena. "How do you know what's best for Manaphy?"

Relena and Jackie went back and forth for an hour and it scared Manaphy as he tightly held onto May.

After calming down, Relena and Jackie contacted Pokémon Ranger headquarters and asked them what to do. Both Jackie and Relena stated their case to their superiors. After waiting for an hour their superiors came back with an answer for them.

"Although you have excellent service with the Pokémon Rangers for a long time," began the head of the Pokémon Rangers, "we have to agree with Relena. It's not our policy nor is it our place to tell trainers they can't catch any Pokémon, legendary or not."

"Thank you sir," Relena said with a slight bow.

"However, neither of you two is to approach the trainer and Manaphy until Manaphy has returned to Samiya," instructed the head of Pokémon Rangers.

"Might I suggest that you have Jackie stay away from my friends if he thinks about trying to convince them to get May Haruka to back away from Manaphy," Relena said to the head of the Pokémon Rangers after looking at Jackie and seeing the look on his face.

"I won't try to convince her friends to get the trainer to back off from Manaphy," assured Jackie.

"Whatever," Relena said under her breath which earned her a dirty look from Jackie.

"I've got my eye on you Jack Walker," Relena said to Jackie with a stern look on her face.

"Please call me Jackie," said Jackie.

"Whatever," Relena said as she walked away.

"What was argument you and Jackie had about?" May asked Relena.

"Jackie thought it would it in Manaphy's best interest if you two should split," answered Relena as she was going outside for fresh air. "And I thought that it wasn't right for him to drive a wedge between you and Manaphy.

"Our policy at the Pokémon Rangers is to protect the balance of nature," continued Relena as she motioned May to follow her outside. "We're in no position to be telling trainers that they can't catch Pokémon, legendary or not. Every Pokémon has the right to be happy if they want to be with a trainer or not."

May gave Relena a slight nod as they stepped out into bright day as water Pokémon swam close to the ship and some flying type Pokémon flew near the ship the group was taking to Samiya.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"Wow, it must've been awesome to see a variety of water Pokémon swimming along the ocean," Hilbert said to me after taking a sip of some berry juice.

"Yeah it was really cool," said Ash. "But Jackie had a problem whenever he saw May with Manaphy."

"Really, how come?" asked Hilda.

"Jackie thought I had become too close to Manaphy and was trying to get me to back away even though his superiors told him not to," I answered Hilda. "He and Relena butted heads with each other and Jackie ended up having a broken nose and a nasty bruise to his gut."

'Ouch,' commented Victini.

"Yeah well, it's nothing compared to what happened when we were in the temple," I said to the group. "After finding Manaphy and going to the temple, we got into a situation that threatened our lives and when Ash and I started our relationship." I winked at Ash which he returned.

'Oh this I've got to hear,' said Shaymin before she started munching on a Poffin that Dawn gave her.

Flashback

Three years ago

3rd Person POV

Samiya

May, Ash, Elizabeth, Max and Brock followed Manaphy to an area of the Temple that was blocked by a podium with ancient writing on it.

"What does it say?" Max asked Elizabeth.

"I can't read it," answered Elizabeth, "but perhaps Grandpa can read it."

"Would you like me to read to it?" Phantom asked the group as he and his Chatot approach the group. "The least I can do is let you see the Sea Crown with your own eyes."

Phantom translated what was on the podium, produced the same mark that May had on her wrist. After unlocking the passage to the Sea Crown, Phantom ran up the stairs to claim his prize. May and everyone else followed the Phantom up to the pedestal where the Sea Crown was held. Much to their amazement, the Sea Crown wasn't an actual crown but a bunch jewels set in the pedestal. Everyone was amazed at the jewels set in the stone base, set like a crown. Manaphy wanted to swim in the pillar of water and leapt out of May's arms into the pillar. Manaphy happily swam around much to the enjoyment of Max.

"Wow, that looks fun," observed Max as he watched Manaphy swim in the pillar of water.

Phantom didn't care about Manaphy having fun in the pillar; all he cared about was getting the Sea Crown.

"Remember, there are two types of men in this world," Phantom told the kids, "those who look good with jewels and those who do not. For my money, the Sea Crown and I were a match made in heaven."

Phantom then proceeded to pull out the jewels and Manaphy tried to stop him pulling back but was outmuscled by Phantom as he was thrown out of the pillar and cried as he landed on the ground. May became furious as she approached Phantom and tapped him on the shoulder. Phantom turned around only to see May leap up and give him a hard right hook, knocking out another tooth out of the Phantom's mouth. May quickly moved to scoop up Manaphy and backed from the Phantom as he didn't even bother to punish May for knocking another tooth out of his mouth. He was intent on collecting the Sea Crown and proceeded pull the jewels.

"Max, note to self, never get on May's bad side," Ash said to Max as both boys closed their mouths after letting them open in shock and fear.

"Amen Ash," agreed Max as he gave slight nod of agreement.

As Phantom pulled out jewels, water gushed out of the pillar, caught Max in a small torrent and nearly swept Max into the water below had Elizabeth not caught him and reeled him back up over the wall and back on the platform. Max cried and held onto Elizabeth as he cried in terror of what just happened to him. Elizabeth suggested that they leave as the temple had started to sink as everyone else and reluctant to leave as Phantom was still pulling out jewels from stone base. Jackie briefly met up with May and the others and after Elizabeth told Jackie that Phantom was stealing from the pedestal while water was flooding into the temple. Jackie ran into Crown Room and used his usual tricks as he swiped jewels from the bag Phantom was placing the jewels in and put the jewels back in the pedestal. Jackie managed to get most of the jewels back into place on the pedestal before he and Phantom were thrown into a powerful current that sent them in separate directions with Phantom carrying one jewel.

While Phantom and Jackie each had made their escape, Elizabeth had lead the group back to the sub they used to get into the temple with until Manaphy went back towards the chamber with the Sea Crown. May instinctively followed Manaphy like a mother running after her child and Ash followed right behind her. Ash and May found the chamber with the Sea Crown and the jewels lying next to the pedestal with Manaphy trying to move a jewel back into place. May and Ash jumped in the water and swam over to pedestal and helped Manaphy put the jewels back into the pedestal. They thought they were finished until they saw that they were one jewel short.

"Uh oh, did Phantom have a jewel?" Ash asked May as she picked up Manaphy in her arms.

Before May could answer, more water gushed into the room as they had no choice but to leave with rushing water following right behind them. After a few minutes of running in circles, Ash and May found the last jewel and a personal storage container belonging to Phantom.

"Get in," Ash instructed May as he helped her in the container and then put Pikachu in there with May and Manaphy. "Pikachu, you take of them." Right as Ash going to close the hatch, May lunged at him and kissed him. Pikachu dropped his jaw in shock and Manaphy had no clue what was going on. Ash was also shocked when May kissed him but closed his eyes and kissed her back. Ash cared about May and thought she was really cute; he just didn't know how to express his feelings. May laid back in the container holding Ash's free hand with a concerned look on her face.

"Come back to me Ash," May said to Ash while blushing.

Ash was blushing too even as he shut the container and off to put the jewel in the pedestal.

Present day

May Haruka

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

"That's so romantic," Hilda and Bianca said at the same time as they were jealous of me.

"Oh brother," huffed Iris only to have Bianca and Hilda punch her. Iris had her nose broken by Bianca and a tooth knocked out by Hilda. Relena helped Iris by setting her nose back in place and picked up Iris's tooth and gave it to her.

"Now make sure you put it under your pillow for the tooth fairy, little girl," Relena said jokingly to Iris in a mother-like tone.

Iris glared at Hilda and Bianca in disgust as she hated the fact that she kept getting punched.

'Ahem, May was finishing her story,' interrupted Victini as he was becoming unhappy that Hilda had set him on the table when she went to punch Iris. Hilda picked Victini back up and set him back on her lap which made him happy once again. [Sigh] I guess he's certainly easy to please.

"Yeah, um, once Ash set the jewel back in place," I continued, "the temple rose up out the of the sea and everything almost seemed back to normal until Phantom tried to swipe Manaphy for himself, but my motherly instincts told that Manaphy was still in danger."

'What happened?" asked Shaymin as she leaned forward.

"I gave Phantom another roundhouse kick and knocked out a couple more teeth from his mouth," I answered Shaymin. "Phantom would've killed me had Pikachu not helped out and made his mecha suit go haywire.

"After Phantom was arrested, Manaphy decided to stay with his mother," I finished with a wink as I pulled Manaphy close to me.

Once my story was finished, we all headed to our rooms for the night. The next day was important for us Ash and I were heading to the Nacrene City Gym for our second gym badge. I wrapped my arms around Ash as I still thought about our first kiss and will always think about it since it changed our lives and brought us closer together.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon; Nintendo owns it and I'm just borrowing the characters, storylines and elements for recreational purposes.

11: Night at the Nacrene City Museum and Ash Catches Virizion

After I had told group around me my story, we had gone to bed, except for my best friend Relena as she went into the woods to make sure our enemies weren't trying to lay an ambush for us in the forest. Dawn said that she, Shaymin and Piplup were going back Johto for the contests and maybe even try to enter the Silver Conference and do what Ash couldn't do… actually win it. Dawn decided to stay with us for the night before heading to Castelia City for a plane to the Johto region. But Dawn was planning on catching a few more Unova Pokémon before going to Johto. She thought it would be a good idea to introduce Unova Pokémon to the different regions. She asked me to go to Johto with her, but I politely declined because I promised that I would stay by Ash's side and that I wasn't going to leave him. Dawn was amazed at my devotion to Ash and understood that I didn't want to leave Ash. We went back to our rooms and I got into bed with Ash; I always enjoy sleeping in bed with Ash. I feel safe when I'm with him and already I had my arm wrapped around his waist and fell asleep. Victini and Manaphy were asleep on our bed as well. Manaphy stayed as close to me as he could get; while Victini stayed on the opposite end of the bed with Pikachu. Everyone slept peacefully through the night and I certainly had a good dream during the night.

Enough about the night, all of us woke up the next morning and Dawn left for Castelia City to go back to the Johto region and catch a few Unova Pokémon to take with her back to Johto for the contests. Bianca had to go back to Striaton City to get her first badge. Hilbert was eager to get his second Unova gym badge as was Ash and so both of them went looking for the Nacrene City Gym. They didn't have a clue where to find the gym even though Hilda and I suggested to them that we should ask for directions to the gym. [Sigh] What is it with men and asking for directions; it's so simple and they have to do things the hard way. As Hilda and I followed Ash and Hilbert with a sweat drop on our heads, we came to a museum and a man in a business suit was coming out trembling like he had seen a Gastly.

"Hey what's wrong?" Iris asked the man.

The man explained that museum was haunted by an evil spirit. Cilian felt there was logical explanation and thought he could explain what was causing the so-called haunting around the museum. The man let us stay with him in the museum to help him out. The man saw Victini on my right shoulder and Manaphy on left shoulder and was amazed at the Pokémon he saw. He hadn't seen Manaphy before and I guess he had only seen Victini in books about legendary Pokémon.

"My, you seem to be very lucky to have such rare Pokémon," the man said to me as he marveled at Manaphy and Victini.

'Oh, I'm definitely rare,' Victini said to the man. 'But I think you should be telling me that I'm the lucky one.' Victini pointed to himself.

"How are you the lucky one?" the man asked Victini.

'Because I found such a warm and caring trainer who loves Pokémon just much as herself and her boyfriend,' answered Victini as he hugged me. The man smiled and then showed us around the museum before we got down to looking for whatever was haunting the museum. After the tour, the six of us went to sleep and waited to hear any strange noises. Sure enough within a few hours, we started hearing strange noises. At first I didn't hear anything because I was fast asleep and my arm wrapped around Ash's waist. Hilda too was fast asleep with her left arm wrapped around Hilbert's waist. Victini seemed to be talking in his sleep and I learned something new about my furry companion as he slept at the end of our sleeping bag.

'Please get me something to eat,' requested Victini as he turned over on his back. 'Pancakes would be nice to eat right now.' As he said this his stomach rumbled and he woke up and looked around, shrugged and went back to sleep.

For fifteen minutes after Victini fell asleep again nothing happened until we all heard noises around the museum. Certain artifacts were moving as if they came to life. We were frightened as the objects and artifacts chased us around until one of the artifacts latched on to Cilan's face causing him to say some things that a bit bizarre. It was only until the curator came in and took charge. The curator was a black woman with green hair and wearing an archeological outfit.

"Well it seems we have quite problem here," the woman as she looked to the man running the museum.

"L-Lenora!" exclaimed the man as he was surprised to see her standing right there.

"Watchog, come on out," Lenora said as she threw a Pokéball up in the air. A beaver like Pokémon came out of its Pokéball.

"Alright Watchog, use Foresight," Lenora ordered her Pokémon. The Watchog used its Foresight and firing off a ray of red light at the mask that was about to land on Cilian's face to reveal another Ghost Pokémon that used the mask as part of his body.

"As I suspected, it was a Yamask," Lenora said as she saw the Ghost Pokémon.

Once the misunderstanding with Yamask was cleared up, we went back to the Pokémon Center for the rest of the night. Hilda and Hilbert slept in one bed together as did Ash and I as we both had an arm wrapped around each other's waist.

In the morning, Ash and I went to the Nacrene City gym under the museum where Ash was going to compete for his second gym badge.

"I've been expecting you," Lenora said to Ash as we entered the gym. "I hope you can provide me with a challenge."

Ash gave Lenora a confident smile as Lenora's husband stepped up. Before he could say anything Hilda, Hilbert and Relena show up to watch the gym battle.

"Sorry we're late," Hilda said, "**some** of us slept in and forgot to turn the alarm clock on." Hilda had directed her comment to Hilbert, who grimaced and had a sweatdrop on his forehead.

"I was doing some work early, so I got here later than I thought I would," Relena said to me and Ash.

"So you're here?" asked a familiar voice we saw belonging to Trip.

"Oh hey Trip," Ash said to Trip as he turned to Lenora.

"My, I must say, this gym battle is quite popular," Lenora said as she saw the audience get bigger. Trip said nothing as we all waited for the start of the gym battle to begin.

"The Nacrene City gym battle will begin between the gym leader Lenora and challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town," began Lenora's husband. "This will be a two on two battle and will end when one trainer's Pokémon is unable to battle. Are both trainers ready?"

"You beat I am," Ash said eagerly.

"Of course," said Lenora.

"Then let the battle begin."

"Lilipup, time for battle," Lenora said as she threw a Pokéball up and revealed a small puppy Pokémon.

Tepig then popped out of his Pokéball wanting to take the first round.

"Lilipup, use Roar," ordered Lenora before Ash and Tepig could make the first move. Lilipup let out a loud roar causing Tepig to retreat back to his Pokéball and out came Oshawott confused on what was going on.

"Lilipup, return," said Lenora as she recalled her puppy Pokémon and pulled out another Pokéball. "Alright Watchog, you're on."

"Oshawott, use Water Gun," ordered Ash as Oshawott opened up on Watchog.

"Watchog, use Mean Look," ordered Lenora. Watchog used his Mean Look to keep Oshawott from escaping.

"Oshawott, use Razor Shell," ordered Ash as Oshawott charged at Watchog.

"Watchog use Thunderbolt," countered Lenora as Watchog let loose a bolt of thunder and struck Oshawott. Oshawott fell in defeat.

"Oshawott is unable to battle," announced Lenora's husband, "Watchog wins."

Trip gave a small chuckle but kept watching with interest.

"Let's go Tepig," Ash said as he threw Tepig's Pokéball out.

Ash's Tepig came out ready for another crack at Lenora's Pokémon.

"Watchog, return," Lenora ordered her Watchog as she recalled her Watchog. "Go Lilipup." Lenora's Lilipup came back out for more.

"Alright, Lilipup use Shadow Ball," Lenora ordered her Lilipup.

Lilipup produced a shadowy blob and sent it at Tepig.

"Dodge it Tepig and use Tackle," countered Ash as he was now desperate just to land a hit.

"Dodge it and use your Tackle," Lenora countered back.

Before Lilipup could connect, the roof of the gym exploded as another enemy from our past came and crashed the match. The two figures were two girls well dressed and the blonde girl had her hair done in a weird look.

"So this is where you went to," said the girl with lavender hair. "I guess Lawrence's info was accurate."

"Great, this day just keeps getting better now that **they** showed up," Ash snarled softly.

"You mean you know them?" I asked Ash as I looked at the two girls.

"Wish I didn't know them," answered Ash.

"Who are you two and why did you interrupt our gym battle?" Lenora asked the two girls with authority.

"Their names are Annie and Oakley," Ash answered Lenora.

"Huh, you know them?" Lenora asked Ash in surprise.

"I wish I didn't know them," Ash answered bitterly. "They caused trouble in Altimar and nearly killed me just for the sake of power. They also tried to steal a treasured jewel from the people of Altimar and lead a Pokémon to its death."

"Well, we certainly haven't forgotten you," said Oakley. "Now it's time for you to pay with your life."

"Pikachu and I beat you before, we can do it again," Ash said to both crooks.

"Ariados, time to show this punk his fate," said Oakley as she threw a Pokéball and released a spider Pokémon from it.

"Espeon, time for us to get some payback as well," added Annie as she threw a Pokéball and released a lavender Pokémon from it.

'Oh you won't be getting paid anytime soon,' said Victini as he leapt off my shoulder and took a fighting stance in front of Ash. 'Come on Pikachu, let's get 'em.

'_Oh yeah,_' agreed Pikachu as he leapt off of Ash's shoulder.

"You're not ready for anything," said Oakley. "Ariados use Sludge Bomb on that little furball."

Ariados used its Sludge Bomb on my little Victini and it certainly didn't make Victini happy.

'My fur! My beautiful fur!' exclaimed Victini as he tried to get the sludge off his fur to no avail. Before long, you could fire in his eyes. 'Ladies, that was a dreadful mistake you made.' Victini had said it with a calm fury.

Pikachu could sense what was about to happen, grabbed a hardhat and dove for cover after he panicked. Victini used his Flame Charge attack and combined it with his Psychic attack that I taught him. I had even shown him the Arcanine that he uses as his signature attack. Oakley's Ariados panicked when it saw a raging Arcanine coming at him at full power because Victini had Charcoal around his neck to power up his Flame Charge attack. Victini slammed into Oakley's Ariados with a vengeance. With one move Ariados was knocked out with circles in its eyes.

'That's for ruining my beautiful fur,' snapped Victini as he waited for the next Pokémon to come out.

"Grr, that was just lucky shot you took," snarled Oakley. "Purugly, you're on!" A tiger-cat Pokémon came out of its Pokéball rearing to go.

"Espeon, use Psybeam on Pikachu," Annie ordered her Espeon.

"Purrugly, use Mudslap on Pikachu," Oakley added as Purugly was quick to attack Pikachu and land a successful attack on him as well. "Now finish it off with a powerful Slash attack and make sure the wound goes deep." Purrugly charged at Pikachu who was lying helpless as he tried to quickly wipe the mud off his face.

Before Purugly could land a blow that would injure Pikachu, it got hit by a Pokémon that connected with a powerful Double Kick. Purugly was effectively knocked out by the green Pokémon that looked at the evil Team Rocket goons and then to Ash as he moved to get Pikachu out of the fray Annie's Espeon was knocked out by a barrage of magical leaves in one swift attack. The Pokémon looked to Ash as it seemed to see something about Ash that some of us couldn't. It looked into Ash's eyes almost as if she was looking into his soul to see any qualities that would help it decide to help Ash or not.

'Hm, you seem to be an interesting human,' the green Pokémon said through telepathy. 'Follow me and I will test your courage and your resolve.'

The Pokémon left through the hole it came down in and out of the museum. Before Ash could anything, he fell on his knees and buried his face in his hands. After the green Pokémon had escaped, Annie and Oakley escaped as well. They went after the green Pokémon as they were going to try and steal it for their boss Giovanni. Once Annie and Oakley left, Trip looked at Ash and then laughed at his face.

"You're really pathetic," said Trip as he hooted with laughter. "You say that you defeated the Sinoh League, yet you can't even beat your enemies.

"You should just do your enemies a favor, release all your Pokémon, go home with tail between your legs and..." Before Trip could finis, Hilbert had gone over to Trip and given him a cheap shot to that one area I don't want to mention.

"How dare you say that to Ash," snarled Hilbert. "He has more experience training Pokémon than you, me or even Hilda and you audacity to tell him to quit training Pokémon? You make me sick you ungrateful punk."

"He doesn't have the right to call himself a champion," countered Trip.

"Oh really?" asked Lenora as she stepped in. "And what defines a champion? It seems to me that you think winning defines a champion. Even champions have a slow start in new places or are even unprepared when an old foe."

"Hmph, I think I'll stick to my opinion," Trip said as he refused to listen to either Hilbert or Lenora and walked out before turning. "Take my advice: Release your Pokémon and go back to the boonies where you belong."

I had heard enough so I went over and roundhouse kicked him across his jaw and broke his nose in the process. I decided not to say anything, but went back to Ash as I knelt down and put my arms around him to comfort him.

"It's alright Ash," I said sweetly and gently as I gave him a peck kiss on his forehead, "none of us expected to see those two while you were having your gym battle."

'_You_'_re not gonna release us_, _ are you Ash_?' asked Pikachu as he was worried that Ash would take Trip's suggestion and go back to Pallet Town a failure.

"No, he's not going to release you," I said to Pikachu. "He loves all of you and he wouldn't release for any reason. Right, Ash?"

Ash looked at me with a defeated look on his face and then ran out of the gym leaving what Pokémon he had at the gym. Hilbert was going to run after him; but he was stopped by Relena as she looked at him.

"Let him go," Relena said gently. "He needs to do this on his own and find his resolve once again." Relena looked to me giving me the "You know he has to do this" look. I gave Relena a curt nod and watched as Ash left the gym.

'Do you think he'll be alright?' Victini asked me as he floated up to my side.

I smiled as I answered Victini, "He'll be just fine. I know he'll be just fine and he won't let Trip's words get to him."

"You sound confident," Lenora's husband said to me.

"Oh, I'd say that it's more confidence," said Lenora as she watched Ash run away.

'Do you want me to follow him?' Victini asked me.

"If you would please," I requested Victini. "Just make sure he doesn't see you."

'Oh, he won't be able to see me,' Victini said to me as he disappeared in front of me and reappeared. 'Don't worry May, I'll watch his back. Annie and Oakley might try go after Ash for round two.'

"I'm trusting you my silly little buddy," I said to Victini as I kissed him on his forehead. "Make sure you keep Annie and Oakley off Ash's back. But before you go, I need to teach you this attack." I pulled out a Hoen TM disc containing the move Brick Break and taught it to Victini. Victini absorbed the knowledge from the TM as it broke in half.

"Make sure you use that attack when you need to use it," I instructed Victini before he set off for Pinwheel Forest.

'Got it,' Victini said as he saluted to me, disappeared and headed after Ash into Pinwheel Forest.

3rd Person POV

Pinwheel Forest, Outside Nacrene City

Ash ran through the forest looking for the green Pokémon that interfered in the battle between him and the two ladies from Altimar. He had no idea that he was being followed by Victini because Victory Pokémon was invisible as he followed Ash into the forest.

'Ah, you have arrived,' said the green Pokémon as she was well hidden in the forest. 'The time has come to test your courage. But before we test your courage, we will test your resolve.'

"Alright, so our mission now is to to capture that Pokémon that made us look like fools," summarized Annie.

"Right," acknowledged Oakley. "If we can't capture it then we can destroy it."

"I don't like that we may have to destroy a Pokémon," commented Annie.

"Well we can't let that kid get that Pokémon before we can," said Oakley, "and thanks to Iron Masked Marauder, we have a guaranteed way of capturing it. Now let's capture that Pokémon."

Annie gave Oakley a slight nod as they entered Pinwheel Forest after Virizion.

An Audino appeared from a bush and gestured towards a path that it had traveled from the forest.

'_My mistress has been expecting you,_' the Audino said to Ash. '_Please_, _come this way and__ your __trial __shall__ begin_.'

The Audino lead Ash through the path and there he encountered the first part of his challenge. Ash saw what he thought was his rival Gary Oak.

"Huh, Gary?" Ash asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

'Well why are you even training Pokémon?' asked the illusion of Gary Oak.

"Well that's easy, I want to be a Pokémon master," answered Ash.

'You say that as if it's easiest answer you could think of,' snapped the illusion of his recent rival Paul. 'How can you say that when you keep getting attacked by your enemies?'

"Well we don't know who's gonna attack us," protested Ash. "What do you want me to do, stop every time I hear a strange noise?"

2 hours later

May's POV

Nacrene City Gym

"What's taking Ash so long?" Hilbert asked as he paced around the floor. "I mean how long does it take find a Pokémon and come back?"

"That Pokémon said that it wanted to test Ash's courage and resolve," Relena said to Hilbert as she sat on her knees as I was getting ready for my gym battle against Lenora.

"The gym battle between the gym leader Lenora and challenger May Haruka of Petalberg City," announced Lenora's husband. "This will be a two on two battle and the match will end when a competitor's Pokémon are unable to battle. Are both of you ready?"

"Yes," answered Lenora. I just gave a curt nod to Lenora's husband.

"Then let the battle begin," said Lenora's husband as he brought his hands down.

"Lilipup let's go," said Lenora as she threw her first Pokéball.

'Of all the times not to have a Pokémon with the Soundproof ability,' I thought as I gritted my teeth.

"Something wrong my dear?" Lenora asked me. "You look troubled about something; I hope it's not about Ash."

"No, I know that Ash will overcome any problem he's got," I answered Lenora with a confident smile. "He's tougher then the toughest trainer."

"Spoken like a woman in love," Lenora said with a confident smile on her face. "Now call out your Pokémon. I'm eager to see if you can do what your boyfriend couldn't do." Lenora's comment made me feel uncomfortable as I didn't want to have a competition with Ash on how many badges I could get. But I still had to get eight badges to enter the Unova Pokémon league. I took a deep breath and produced a Pokéball of my first Pokémon.

"Deerling, take the stage," I said as I threw my Pokéball and released Deerling.

"Let the match begin," said Lenora's husband as he signaled the start of the match.

"Alright Lilipup, use Shadow Ball," Lenora ordered her Lilipup.

"Charge through it and use Double Kick," I countered as Deerling charged through the Shadow Ball with no damage done to it.

"Huh, how Deerling didn't take any damage?" asked Hilbert in amazement.

"Is she out of her mind?" Iris asked in a sarcastic tone.

Lenora gave a smirk as she liked what I was planning. I guess she knew that I was taking advantage of the fact that Deerling was a part Normal Pokémon.

"Alright Lilipup, use Roar," Lenora ordered her Lilipup.

"That's what I was hoping you'd do," I said to Lenora with a grin on my face. "Deerling, use Baton Pass."

Before Lilipup could use its Roar attack, Deerling used Baton Pass and pushed Manaphy out into battle right as Lilipup used his Roar attack. Manaphy was terrified as he ran back towards me clutching my ankle and crying. I knelt down and pried Manaphy off my ankle as he wrapped his arms around my neck still crying.

"Oh it's alright Manaphy," I said to Manaphy as I gently calmed him down as he started to cry less. "Don't cry sweetie, don't cry sweetie, don't cry."

Once Manaphy calmed down, I looked at him and he looked back at me with a worried look on his face. I could tell that he was worried about Ash... and so was I.

"I'm sorry, but can we postpone this match?" I asked Lenora.

"You're worried about your boyfriend, aren't you?" Lenora asked me. I gave her a slight nod and moved to the side to let Hilda and Hilbert have their turn against Lenora.

"Why don't we call it a day for now," suggested Lenora. "I think we're at least a little bit worried about Ash; so why don't we pick this up tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to do a gym battle when one of our friends is out by himself," answered Hilda as she wrapped her arms around Hilbert's waist and rested her head on his left shoulder.

As I watched Hilda and Hilbert, I sighed as I worried about Ash and put my hands on my waist and felt an extra Pokéball in my small pack. I rummaged through my pack and found a Quick Ball that I had marked to send to Mrs. Ketchum.

"I'll be right back, I have to send something to Ash's mother," I said to the group as I made my way to the Nacrene City Pokémon Center.

3rd person POV

Pinwheel Forest, outside Nacrene City

Victini followed Ash silently through Pinwheel Forest with out being detected. However, Victini was being followed by the two lady thieves Annie and Oakley.

"So all we have to do is capture that Pokémon using this Master Dark Ball?" Annie asked Oakley.

"Yeah, thanks to the Iron Masked Marauder we'll take that Pokémon to help conquer Unova and destroy that little punk while we're at it," answered Oakley.

Victini, still invisible, was close enough to Annie and Oakley to hear what they were planning and had to take action now that Ash's life was going to be in danger. Victini made himself visible going to work and coming up with traps to slow them down and perhaps ruin their clothes and mess up their faces. Once Victini was finished with his impromptu traps, he disappeared and got behind the first trap. Annie and Oakley approached first trap and they didn't expect to get mud in their faces and then get tripped into a mud puddle Victini made with help from a Panpour he bribed with an Oran berry. Annie's hair suddenly flopped to the ground as her hair fell to the ground. Oakley tripped over Annie into the mud and both of them were angry.

"My hair and outfit are ruined!" exclaimed Annie as she got up out of mud as she wiped the mud off her outfit.

"You're not the only who fell in the mud," Oakley said angrily as she too wiped the mud off of her outfit. "This was my best outfit and I spent good money on this outfit and now it's ruined!"

'Well, I guess you should watch where you're going,' Victini said as he was still invisible. 'Consider that your first warning ladies.'

"Who are you?!" demanded Oakley. "Show yourself!"

'I guess if you want to draw the local Pokémon towards you and attack you, I won't stop you,' Victini said while still invisible. 'You two are lovely ladies and I don't like having to do this to two lovely ladies, but your intentions in this forest are evil.'

"Well whoever they are, they're certainly sweet," Annie said to Oakley. Oakley looked to Annie and gave a slight nod while blushing.

"We still have our mission to accomplish," Oakley as they got out of the first trap.

While Annie and Oakley were going through Victini's traps, Ash was facing the test of courage. He had gone through the Test of Resolve and passed with flying colors. Virizion surly was going to put Ash through the ringer as she was throwing every kind of test she could think of.

"Come on Annie, we'll worry about the mud later," Oakley said as she grabbed a branch and started to climb a tree. "Besides we have to capture or destroy that Pokémon." Annie sighed as she followed Oakley up the tree and started hopping across branches. Victini saw this and shook his head as he sighed.

'**Why** **can**'**t those two just ****listen**** to advice**** given**** to**** them**?' wondered Victini as he waited for Annie and Oakley to arrive at his next trap. This time it was Oakley who got nailed by Victini's trap. A vine holding trap number two in place was snapped after Victini karate chopped it.

Once the trap was sprung, Annie was smacked in the face with some rotten berries and the branch she was reaching for. Annie sent flying into Oakley as she was about to reach the branch Annie was reaching for the same branch. Oakley too was hit with rotten berries and fell back to the forest floor

"Great, now we smell like rotten berries," whined Oakley as she wiped off the rotten berries from face and already ruined outfit.

"Whoever set that trap is dead," Annie said as she wiped the rotten berries off of her.

'I thought that would convince you to back off,' Victini said still invisible. 'Please leave, otherwise I will have to use force against you.'

"Well maybe if you would reveal yourself then we might change our minds," Annie said deceitfully with an evil grin.

'I'm not that stupid,' Victini said as he glared at Annie. 'I may flirt with pretty girls like yourselves, but I'm not going to reveal myself to you because you have evil intentions in this forest.'

"What we're doing here is none of your business," countered Oakley as she got back up and headed towards trap number three.

"Come on Oakley, we still have that Pokemon to capture," said Annie as she took the lead and didn't look to see where she was going.

Annie looked around her surroundings to make sure that they wouldn't walk into another trap. As she was looking to avoid a traps, she and Oakley walked right into another trap set by Victini with some assistance from a couple Leavanny bug Pokémon. He had told the Leavanny about Annie and Oakley and how they were going after Virizion. The Leavanny agreed to help Victini and quickly spun the trap and covered it with leaves by using their Leaf Storm attack. Annie and Oakley struggled to get out of the third trap. This time Victini revealed himself to the trapped criminals. Annie and Oakley were surprised to see Victini from the Nacrene City gym.

"Fine then we'll capture you in its place!" shouted Annie as she threw the Master Dark Ball at Victini.

'Really?' Victini asked in a mocking tone. 'Sorry but I belong to May Haruka and that's not going to change anytime soon.' Victini then used his Flamethrower at the Master Dark Ball and watched as it fell to the ground.

'Now then, to do away with that evil Pokéball,' said Victini as he readied himself and used his Brick Break attack and destroyed the evil Pokéball.

"Grr, you won't get away this," snarled Oakley as she managed to get to a Pokéball clipped to her belt. "Go Ariados, get that little furball. Use your Sludge attack on it again. Let's see how likes having it fur ruined again."

Ariados complied and shot another Sludge attack at Victini; but this time Victini was ready and since he already had sludge on his fur and he was already pissed at Oakley and Ariados for covering his fur in dirty sludge.

'Let's see how **you** like having your appearance ruined with sludge,' Victini said with calm fury as he used his Psychic attack and sent the sludge back at Ariados.

"Quick Ariados, dodge it and use Night Shade," Oakley ordered her spider Pokémon. It was too late as the sludge not only hit Ariados, it blinded him as well.

'Now it's time for you feel the burn!' exclaimed Victini as he prepared his Flame Charge attack and used his Psychic attack to form the flames into an Arcanine and then charged at the blinded Ariados with quick speed striking the helpless Ariados and knocking him out yet again. Oakley struggled to recall her fallen Ariados and call out her next Pokémon.

"Go Purugly, get that little rat!" shouted Oakley as she struggled to throw her second Pokéball. A gray and white cat Pokémon came out and looked at Victini.

'Here kitty, kitty, kitty,' taunted Victini. 'I've got a nice knuckle sandwich for you.'

"Get him Purugly, use your Shadow Claw and show him **your** knuckle sandwich," roared Oakley.

Oakley's Purugly charged at Victini and let him have his knuckle sandwich. Victini was struck across the face by Purugly. Purugly gave an evil cackle and taunted Victini.

'_Did you like my knuckle sandwich_?' Purugly asked Victini in sinister and mocking tone.

'It was horrible and I want my **money back**!' shot back Victini as he used his Brick Break on Purugly and gave her a knuckle sandwich.

Victini and Purugly went back and forth exchanging blows on one another. Despite Victini's small size, he was able to fight with a much bigger Pokémon and was faster thanks to the Flame Charge attack he had used earlier. Purugly was starting to tire out and wasn't able to keep up with Victini's speed and after one good Brick Break attack, she was down for the count and couldn't get back up.

'Well my job is done here,' said Victini. 'Have a nice day ladies and don't let Bug Pokémon get you."

"That's it your dead!" screamed Annie. "Forget about about Ketchum kid, we want revenge on you!"

'Why thank you ladies,' Victini said as he came back and gave them a peck kiss on their foreheads. 'At least Ash and May will have one less enemy having a bull's-eye on their back.' Victini then disappeared and headed deeper into the forest eventually finding Ash with the Pokémon known as Virizion.

'You have done well in proving your resolve and courage,' began Virizion. 'Now the time has come to see if your resolve and courage will help you defeat me.'

"And if I defeat you you'll come with me, correct?" asked Ash.

'That is correct,' answered Virizion.

Ash then gave a smirk of approval as he said to Virizion, "Alright, you're on!"

'Use three Pokémon to try and defeat me,' instructed Virizion, 'no more, no less.'

"I'll defeat you with only two," Ash said confidently.

'You are certainly an interesting human,' Virizion said with a small smile and then looked to the Audino who lead Ash to his challenge. The Audino looked to Virizion and then to Ash gave both of them a slight nod.

'_The final challenge will now begin_,' announced Audino. '_Mistress Virizion and against the human known as Ash Ketchum shall face each other_._ Ready_, _begin_!'

"Go Tepig!" exclaimed Ash as he threw his first Pokéball out ready for battle.

A small orange and brown pig Pokémon readied itself for battle as it eyed Virizion.

'So you will try to gain the advantage through a type advantage,' summarized Virizion.

Ash had no idea what Virizion was talking about but guessed that Virizion was a Grass Pokémon like his Snivy.

"Tepig use Ember, let's go," Ash ordered Tepig. Tepig unleashed a blistering surge of fire at Virizion which wasn't much to Virizion as he quickly moved to the side and then charged Tepig with a Take Down attack.

"Quick Tepig, dodge it and use Tackle attack," countered Ash as Tepig dodged Virizion's Take Down and hit him with his own Tackle causing Virizion to double back and slightly lose balance. Virizion then sent vines towards Tepig and latched on him and began draining Tepig's energy.

"Hang in there Tepig, use Ember to break free,"ordered Ash.

Tepig struggled but managed to unleash an Ember attack causing Virizion shriek in pain as she was trying to use her Giga Drain attack and let go of Tepig. Both Tepig and Virizion panted heavily as they stared at each other down. All of a sudden, Oshawott popped out of his Pokéball and shoved Tepig out of the way and then took a confident battle stance.

"Oshawott, what are you doing?" Ash asked Oshawott in surprise "I didn't call on you."

'_Don_'_t worry about this guy_, _he's mine_,' said Oshawott as he then charged at the weakened Virizion preparing to use his Razor Shell. Virizion saw Oshawott charging at him, got up wobbly and then charged at him head on with a Take Down attack. Oshawott was struck by Virizion's Take Down attack and slammed back into a tree. Oshawott fell to the forest floor at first with circles in his eyes and then a look of defeat.

"Return Oshawott," said Ash as he recalled the defeated otter Pokémon to his Pokéball. "Sorry buddy."

'That's one Pokémon down,' said Virizion. 'you have two Pokémon left to use against.'

"I didn't intend to use Oshawott," Ash said to Virizion. "But I guess I'll have to use a third Pokémon, the Pokémon I intended to use with Tepig. Go Pidove!" A dove Pokémon came out and joined the fighting.

"Pidove, use Gust," Ash ordered Pidove, eager to get on the offensive against Virizion.

Pidove blew a damaging gust at Virizion. Virizion countered a Magical Leaf at Pidove. Pidove weaved through the barrage of guided leaves but still was hit by a few of leaves.

"Alright Pidove use Air Cutter," Ash ordered Pidove as she followed through with a powerful Air Cutter that did critical damage to the part Grass part Fighting legendary Pokémon. In the dust and debris thrown around the area, Virizion smirked as she knew gave a slight nod to herself. Once the debris and dust had settled down, Virizion stood perfectly still with a smirk on her face.

'You have definitely proven your worth to me young trainer,' Virizion said to Ash. 'I shall come with you.'

"You want to come with me?" Ash asked Virizion amazed at what Virizion said to her. "You realize that you may not come back to the Unova region."

'I yearn to see sights beyond this forest,' explained Virizion. 'I am willing to take that chance.'

Ash then produced a random Pokéball, a Heal Ball and threw it at Virizion. The Heal Ball struck Virizion and she went in the pink Pokéball. After three vibrations and confirmation click, Ash picked up the Heal Ball became excited like he always did when he caught a Pokémon.

"Alright, I caught Virizion!" exclaimed Ash as Tepig and Pidove were overjoyed with him.

'Congratulations Ash,' Victini said as he made himself visible, 'now you have someone waiting for you back in Nacrene City who's waiting in bed at the Pokémon Center alone.'

Ash's eyes widened as Victini mentioned May; he looked to the Audino who gave him a slight nod and lead the way out Pinwheel Forest for both Ash and Victini. Within fifteen minutes Ash and Victini were back at Nacrene City and the Audino turned and went back into Pinwheel after getting a thank you from both Ash and Victini.

'Well, let's get back to the Pokémon Center,' suggested Victini. 'I have to get this sludge off of my fur before I can be with my trainer.'

May's POV

Nacrene City Pokémon Center

It's been four hours and Ash and Victini haven't come back to me until I hear footsteps at the door. The door opens gently, revealing a very tired Ash and Victini. Victini's fur looked as if it didn't have any sludge on it at all.

"Hey May," Ash said to me as he looked a little ashamed for worrying me. "I'm sorry that I was out so long and worried you."

I was worried about Ash; but right then and there, I just wanted him to hold me and make out with him. I flung myself at Ash as he caught me by my waist and I just crashed my lips into his long and hard. Ash navigated his way to our bed and fell on his back after chucking his back pack on the ground.

Once we settled down, we wrapped our arms around each others waists and fell asleep with Victini and Manaphy at the foot of our bed. Tomorrow's a new day for both of us. Ash is going to the Pokémon Battle Club to train for his rematch and his poor little Oshawott after getting knocked out of battle in one move. I hope that peck kiss on Oshawott's forehead will make feel better.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, the characters or story elements of shows or games. I'm just borrowing them for my fic. And just so you guys know, May is still telling the story. There will be other characters describing events in this chapter too.

12: Second Chance for a Badge and Hello Open Frontier

Morning came for us as there were Pokémon littered around the floor and on our bed. Victini was at the end of the bed clinging to my legs while Manaphy squeezed in between me and Ash as he wanted to be in bed with his mother and father. Manaphy had at one time asked where his papa was and I guessed that Manaphy referred to Ash as his papa. When we got back with Ash, Manaphy was very happy and started calling Ash his papa. When the sun rose, I got up slowly and found Manaphy asleep between Ash and I with his arms wrapped around my neck.

'_Please let me sleep__ a little__ longer __ Mama_, _Papa_,' Manaphy said in his sleep.

'Please don't bother me while I'm trying to charm the cute brunette,' Victini said in his sleep. 'I want her to feed me a nice plump Oran berry.' Victini's stomach growled as he woke up and put his hand on his stomach.

"Maybe you shouldn't be dreaming about pretty girls... and food, silly buddy," I said to Victini as I gave him a peck kiss on his forehead. Victini certainly liked the peck kiss I gave him as he blushed as he smiled.

'Let's get breakfast, I'm starving,' Victini said to me as he floated to my shoulder.

"Okay, but first we have to wake your brother up," I said before giving Manaphy a peck kiss on his forehead. "Wake up Manaphy, it's time for breakfast." Manaphy woke up for breakfast as he reached for me to pick him up. I picked him up and he wrapped his arms lightly around my neck.

'_I_'_m hungry Mama_,' Manaphy said as I took him and Victini downstairs.

"Don't worry we're going to get breakfast right now," I said to Manaphy as I gave him a peck kiss on his forehead. Manaphy, like Victini, liked it when I gave him a peck kiss on his forehead. Hilda joined me as I headed downstairs. Victini happily leapt in Hilda's arms which made Manaphy happy that Victini didn't try to take his spot on my shoulder.

Ash eventually came down for breakfast along with Hilbert after sleeping another thirty minutes longer and lurching downstairs. Hilda saw that Victini might've made Hilbert nervous after sitting in her lap when I told the group my story about Manaphy. I could notice Hilbert making a small grimace as he saw Victini in his girlfriend's lap and enjoying the affection she gave him. I then decided that Victini needed to back off a little bit.

"Hilda, why don't I take Victini off your hands," I suggested to Hilda.

'Why? I'm not causing any trouble for Hilda and Hilbert,' protested Victini as he looked to Hilda with sparkling eyes. 'Right Hilda?'

"You are a cutie," began Hilda.

'Yes I am cute,' said Victini as his face brightened, 'and small and furry. No lady could ever resist my cute appeal.'

"I'm sure that's true little cutie," Hilda said as she looked at Victini, "but I have my boyfriend and he gets jealous if he sees me giving affection to some other guy or in this case... someone else's Pokémon."

'But I thought you would love the attention I give you,' whined Victini as he reached for Hilda as I took him back from Hilda.

"Victini, you need to be with **your** trainer and bond with her," Hilda said to Victini before she gave him a peck kiss on his forehead. "And to answer your question, I do love the attention you give me, but don't you think that May deserves the same affection you'd give a pretty girl?"

Victini wiped the tears from his face and gave Hilda a slight nod as he drooped his arms and sighed in defeat.

After the fiasco before breakfast, all four of us trainers and our two other companions headed to the Nacrene City Gym after we had trained hard for our gym battles against Lenora.

"I hope that all four of you are ready for your gym battles, because I've been training myself and my Pokémon too," Lenora said to all four of us as she released a Pokémon that was completely different from her Lilipup.

'Looks like Lilipup evolved,' remarked Victini as he hung on my left shoulder while Manaphy hung on my right shoulder.

'_It can evolve_?' Manaphy asked Victini as he titled his head to see Victini.

'Yup,' answered Victini. 'That's its first stage evolved form, Herdier.'

Lenora looked to at my Victini and had a smile as she said, "My, you're a smart Pokémon."

'Well, I had books in the room I lived in and I read them all,' explained Victini. 'Now that I'm with May here, she and her boyfriend will need my expertise with Unova Pokémon.'

"I see," said Lenora as she thought of what to do as she studied me, Ash, Hilbert and Hilda for moment and then looked to her two Pokémon as they gave a slight nod.

"I'm interested to see how will you can work in a double battle," Lenora said to us.

'A double battle?' asked Victini confused by what Lenora said.

"It's a two-on-two Pokémon battle," explained Hilda, "where two Pokémon have to knock out the opposing two Pokémon."

"Exactly," said Lenora. "I'd like to challenge you two ladies to a two-on-two Pokémon battle and then face your boyfriends in the same type of battle.

"Are the four of you interested?" Lenora asked the four of us.

'Let's do it May,' insisted Victini, 'Gotta learn how to be a team player, right? There's no 'I' in team, right?'

Hilda gave a slight nod as she was willing to do a double battle if it helped her get her second badge.

"Okay, let's do it," I said in agreement.

"This will be a two-on-two battle with the Nacrene City gym leader Lenora facing the challengers Hilda Touko of Nuvema Town and May Haruka of Petalberg City," Lenora's husband said to the audience before facing me and Hilda. "Trainers, are you ready?"

"Yes," answered Hilda as she readied a Pokéball.

"I'm ready too," I answered as I was about to grab Deerling's Pokéball.

'Count me in,' Victini said as he took to the field in place of Deerling.

"Go Dewott!" exclaimed Hilda as she tossed her Pokéball to the field and out came her blue otter Pokémon.

"Ready Dewott?"

'_Ready_,' answered Hilda's Dewott.

"Herdier, Watchog time to fight," Lenora said as she threw two Pokéballs on the battlefield and her two Pokémon came out of them.

"Let the double begin," announced Lenora's husband.

"Watchog, use Thunderbolt on Dewott," began Lenora. "Herdier, use Shadow Ball on Victini."

"Dewott, block that Thunderbolt with your scalchops," countered Hilda. Hilda's Dewott pulled it's two scalchops up in defense against Watchog's Thunderbolt

"Victini, counter with your Flamethrower," I ordered Victini.

'Here comes a spicy meatball,' Victini said in his best Italian accent before shooting off a Flamethrower attack formed into an actual meatball as Victini used his Psychic attack to form the flaming meatball.

'Dinner's ready,' Victini said as he sent the fireball at Herdier as he quickly leapt up and twisted his body to avoid the Shadow Ball sent by Lenora's Herdier. 'Hope you're hungry, cuz dinner's coming in hot.'

"Quick Herdier, dodge that fireball and use Tackle," countered Lenora.

Lenora's Herdier tried to dodge the fireball but the fireball was still coming at him because Victini was guiding it at Herdier. Herdier then stood his ground and decided to use a Shadow Ball at the fireball. But before Herdier could get off a Shadow Ball, as he opened his mouth, the fireball struck him right as he prepared to use his Shadow Ball attack. Herdier's eyes went wide as he felt his insides feeling a slight burning sensation. Herdier backed away for a moment and coughed out smoke from the fireball Victini sent at it.

"That was a dirty, don't you think?" Lenora asked Victini.

'No, I thought of it as an experiment,' answered Victini. 'Trying to seeing if I can use things or certain attacks like a ball or shield.'

"I see," said Lenora. "Watchog use Foresight on Victini and Dewott and then Herdier, use Shadow Ball on Victini."

'_Got it_,' Watchog and Herdier said at the same time.

Watchog used Foresight on both Dewott and Victini to blind them temporarily.

'Ah, I can't see!' exclaimed Victini as he covered his eyes because he had been blinded.

'_This is for the experiment_,' Herdier said as he unleashed another Shadow Ball at Victini.

Victini recovered from being temporarily blinded but couldn't dodge the Shadow Ball in time. The Ghost-type attack did a lot damage to Victini since he was a part Psychic Pokémon.

'If that's the case, then take this,' countered Victini as countered back with a Brick Break attack on Herdier.

"Dewott, use Water Gun on Watchog," Hilda ordered her female Dewott.

'_I_'_m all over it_,' acknowledged Dewott as she unleashed a powerful burst of water at Watchog.

"Watchog, dodge it and use Thunderbolt," countered Lenora.

Watchog then let loose electrical energy at Hilda's Dewott. It looked as if the Thunderbolt attack was going to hit home until Hilda had an idea that gave her an evil grin.

"Dewott, use your scalchops to block the Thunderbolt and counter with Scald," countered Hilda. "Move it Victini, while Dewott has her scalchops holding back that Thunderbolt."

'May?' Victini asked me as he turned to me.

"Victini use your Flame Charge and Psychic as a shield," I instructed Victini.

'I'm on it!' said Victini, before performing his combination attack in order to protect himself from the upcoming attack but that wasn't all, the combination along with the Scald attack were also able to score a direct hit on Watchog when it least expected it, finally managing to bring it down. 'Alright, now that's one down and one to go!'

"Way to go Victini!" I said, with a smile on may face as Hilda nodded to her Dewott then got ready to bring an end to the battle once and for all.

"Not bad, but that would take more than that to defeat me!" grinned Lenora as she turned her attention towards Herdier and said. "Use Shadow Ball on Victini!"

Herdier barked prepared to use another Shadow Ball against Victini, though this time Hilda had a plan. "Dewott, hurry and use your scallop to protect Victini now!" The Water-Type nodded and got her scallop up which she managed to barely save the Fire/Psychic-Type from defeat.

"Thanks Hilda!" I told my partner.

"Anytime!" said Hilda, smiling back at me then her face turned serious as they needed to end the battle once and for all. "Alright, time to finish this… use Razor Shell!"

"Victini, use Flame Charge and Psychic!" I ordered.

'On it, Flame on!' said Victini before he and Dewott used their finishing moves, ultimately hitting Herdier hard and taking him down for the count with the combined power of their respective attacks.

"Herdier and Watchog are both unable to continue!" announced Lenora's husband. "Victini and Dewott wins, the victory goes to both May Haruka and Hilda Touko!"

"Alright, we won!" I cheered; glad to have won my second ever Gym Battle and saw how happy Hilda was upon her victory while Lenora recalled her fallen Pokémon, while commenting that they did a good job out there though I went up towards her and said. "Thanks Hilda, you did a pretty good job out there."

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself," replied Hilda as she smiled.

"Well done you two," Lenora said to me and Hilda as she had two badges ready for bot of us. "As for you two, Ash and Hilbert, I'll face both you tomorrow. I need to get my Pokémon healed for tomorrow's match two-on-two match."

"Alright, that's understandable," said Hilbert and Ash gave a slight nod.

All of us left the gym as we talked about mine and Hilda's two-on-two match and how it got really interesting for both of mine and Hilda's boyfriend as watched the match with great interest.

"Hey Ash, we should hit the Pokémon Battle Club tomorrow before we take on Lenora," suggested Hilbert.

"That's a great idea," said Ash as he let go of my hand and began to follow Hilbert.

Hilda went up and grabbed Hilbert's hand and pulled him back to her before she tackled him to the ground.

"Hilbert, you promised me that we would have that date," Hilda said in a seductive and silky tone as she had tears roll down her cheeks and buried her face in Hilbert's chest causing her hat to come off her head.

"You kids are starting to irritate me!" exclaimed Iris as she became angry. "Stop being so lovey dovey and get a room!"

Hilda and I glared at Iris with daggers in our eyes for her remark and then put our fists in her face once again.

"Who are you to tell us where and when we can be lovey dovey to our boyfriends?" I growled at Iris as she rubbed her face after getting slugged twice.

Iris gritted her teeth and shot a glare of defiance at me and Hilda.

"You know what, I don't have to take any of this," snarled Iris. "We're leaving Axew and we're not joining them again!" Axew looked to his trainer and sighed in defeat as he looked at us and waving 'goodbye' to us.

And with that, Iris left Nacrene City without so much as an apology or a good bye. We stood there for 15 minutes watching Iris leave into the forest and then disappear.

"Sorry about that guys," Hilda said to Ash and I as she scratched her head and put her hat back on her head.

"We didn't mean to cause you guys any trouble," added Hilbert. "If you want us to leave, we can do that."

"Hilbert!" exclaimed Hilda as she slapped her boyfriend upside his head.

'Why not join us instead?' offered Victini. 'Iris certainly had some problems with you two as well as my trainer and Ash being romantic around her.'

'_I know_,' agreed Pikachu. '_I wish she would_'_ve just pretended like she never saw it_.'

'I agree with Brother Pikachu,' said Victini with a long sigh.

Ash looked to me and gave a slight nod with a smile on his face.

"You two can come with us," Ash said still with a smile.

"Really? You two don't mind?" asked Hilda.

I smiled as well as I answered, "Nah, it's not a problem at all. We'd be happy if you joined us."

"Thanks," replied Hilbert. "We'll try not to slow you down."

'Oh you'll be just fine,' Victini said to Hilda and Hilbert with a cheerful smile.

A couple hours later, Hilbert and Hilda went to the outside of Nacrene City so they could have their date as they planned. How do I know that, you ask? Well, the truth is that Victini shoved me away from Ash when we were going to have our own date night. Victini wanted to go spy on Hilda and and Hilbert's date. At least that's what Victini told me that's what he wanted to do. Honestly, I think he wanted some more affection from Hilda. Oh my silly little buddy, I wish he would stop trying to get affection from other girls. [sigh] I can certainly see Brock in him as he keeps trying to get attention and affection from pretty girls. Victini and I then found Hilda and Hilbert sitting on a tree branch in different clothes. I couldn't see what they were wearing because I tried to keep Victini from approaching.

"Victini!" I shouted at my Fire/Psychic Pokémon as I ran after him. "Leave them alone and let them have their date!"

Victini ignored me as he disappeared and floated stealthy up to Hilda and Hilbert as he wanted more affection from Hilda and I wasn't going to stop him. He got up right in between Hilda and Hilbert right as they were going to kiss each other. Victini then reappeared and reached out to Hilda, but felt Hilda's lips on his own, which shocked him at first but then it seemed that he enjoyed it. [sigh] I never should've told him those stories about Brock and maybe he wouldn't have gotten the ideas he got. Hilda slowly opened her eyes and saw she was kissing my Victini instead of Hilbert. The couple was startled and Victini came down with a beaming smile on his face.

"I don't want to see you doing that again," I said sternly to Victini as I held him in an ear lock.

Sometime later, Ash and Hilbert were getting ready for their up-coming match as Lenora was at the other side of the arena and her husband was explaining the rules of the two-on-two battle just like with me and Hilda yesterday. "Alright, let's get started…. Pignite, I choose you!" said Hilbert, sending his Starter out into the fight.

"Okay, Virizion let's go!" yelled Ash, sending the Grass/Fighting-Type Legendary Pokemon for the battle that was about to begin. Needless to say, we were all shocked by the sight of him and I wondered what he was so I took out my Pokédex.

_Virizion, the Grassland Pokémon__,_' said Dexette. '_This Pokemon fought humans in order to protect its friends. Legends about it continue to be passed down._'

"No way…" I said in disbelief before turning my attention back towards the battle which was about to take place as Lenora shook off her own shock before sending her Herdier and Watchog out to fight the opponents before them.

"Begin the match!" announced Lenora's Husband, raising both flags as a sign for the battle to start.

"Very well, let's start things out with a Foresight to blind them Watchog!" ordered the Gym Leader with a serious expression on her face. "Herdier, be ready to use Tackle on Pignite when the time comes okay?" With that, Watchog used his Foresight in order to try and blind the two opponents then Herdier charged and hit Pignite with Tackle. "Now use Shadow Ball!"

"I don't think so, Virizion, use your Take Down!" commanded Ash as the Deer jumped up and hit Herdier before he could have a chance to use his Shadow Ball.

"Alright, now Pignite… use Flamethrower on Watchog now!" ordered Hilbert, with the Fire-Type complying and exhaling a stream of fire at the Normal-Type in front of him though Lenora would have none of that.

"Counter with Thunderbolt!" she told her Pokemon, as bolt of electricity collided with the Fire and caused an explosion as smoke surrounded the field. However, she would never notice that Ash had that confident look on his face as it happened.

"Virizion, use Double Kick!" The Grass/Fighting-Type surprised Watchog and managed to place two powerful kicks onto his opponent, sending the Normal-Type flying backwards.

"Herdier, quickly use Shadow Ball!" A familiar Ghost-Type attack hit Virizion from behind and caught him off-guard as Herdier jumped from out of the smoke as it was starting to clear up. "Now use your Tackle attack!" The Gym Leader's Pokemon barked and hit the Legendary Deer head on. "I have to admit, it is a first to see one of the Unova Region's Legendary Deers used in a battle but it alone won't be enough to win."

"I know we're going to win this fight," Ash said with his usual enthusiasm that I know and love. "Virizion, use Giga Drain on Herdier."

"Pignite, Flame Charge on Watchog," added Hilbert as he all of a sudden had burst of confidence.

Both attacks hit home as Herdier and Watchog were hit hard and were thrown back as they fainted.

"Watchog and Herdier are unable to battle," said Lenora's husband. "Virizion and Pignite win the battle. The winners are Ash Ketchum and Hilbert Touya."

Hilda and I expressed our joy when we saw our boyfriends win their second gym badge.

"Yay! We just got our second gym badge!" exclaimed Hilbert and Ash as they leapt up along with Pikachu and Hilbert's Pignite.

"Ash sure has a lot of spirit doesn't he?" Hilda asked me. "Because I think some of it rubbed off on Hilbert."

"That's Ash for you," I replied to Hilda.

"Alright the next gym and contest will be in Castelia City," Lenora said to the six of us as Relena decided to stay on board with us and the three Pokémon out of their Pokéballs. "It's a shame your younger friend left, but I guess it can't be helped."

We said our goodbyes and left Nacrene City to head into the area known as Pinwheel Forest.


	13. Chapter 13

Ash: Wow May. You're doing a great job talking about our journey. But where's the author?

May: He's right here. Without him I wouldn't be able to tell my story.

At any rate here's the disclaimer: Sparky does own the characters or story of Pokémon. If he did, then I wouldn't have left Ash's side and we would've fallen in love. ^_^ Oh well I can dream, can't I? Help me out Sparky.

Me: Sure thing May.

13: Cobalion to the Rescue

After the four of us earned our Basic Badges from Lenora, we proceeded to head into the Pinwheel Forest. As we headed into the forest, something was following us but it was quite a ways away. There certainly were a lot of Pokémon in Pinwheel Forest and I knew that Ash would certainly like to try and catch a Pokémon or two here. I certainly wasn't going to let Ash catch more Pokémon than me. Hilbert certainly had the same look Ash had as he too wanted to catch as many Pokémon as he could. It felt like those two wanted to be in a contest to see who would catch the most Pokémon before we got to the next town. [Sigh] Boys and their silly competitions, I'll never understand them and why boys want to compete with each other. As Ash and Hilbert began searching for new Pokémon, a swarm of a certain kind of Pokémon began descending into the Pinwheel Forest. This kind of Pokémon was from my home region of Hoenn, a part Normal and part Flying Pokémon that Ash had caught before in the Petalberg Forest, the Pokémon known as Taillow. Much to our luck, there were two Taillows that were shiny and I nudged Hilda and pointed them out for her. Hilda gave me a slight nod and readied a Quick Ball as did I. Hilbert and Ash were busy looking for different Pokémon while Hilda and I snuck up on the two shiny Taillows.

"Okay," began Hilda in a whisper.

"Ready," I added in a whisper.

Both Hilda and I gave a slight nod to each other once again and threw our Quick Balls at the two shiny Taillows as they had their backs turned to us. Both Taillows were then captured inside the the Quick Balls we threw at them. Both Taillows struggled for a few seconds than gave up and we heard a confirmation click to indicate that the Taillows were caught. Hilda and I high fived each other and then grabbed our new Pokémon we caught and then slipped away from the where most of the Taillow swarm were located and continued our search for new Pokémon to catch. In the trees we spotted Pokémon that looked like the Pokémon that were used by Cilian and his two other brothers. Well, at least two of them though. We spotted a Panpour and a Pansage that was shiny.

"I got dibs on the shiny Pansage," said Hilda as she readied another Quick Ball she got from Relena.

"Alright, I'll get the Panpour," I said as I too readied another Quick Ball to use and avoid a battle.

Both Hilda and I readied our Quick Balls and threw them at the Pokémon we were intending to catch. Both Pokémon were sucked into the Quick Balls we threw. The shiny Pansage broke out of the Quick Ball and kicked it out of the tree and turned to see that Hilda threw the Quick Ball at him.

'_I __wondered __who __was __trying __to __capture __me_,' the shiny Pansage said as he stared down at me and Hilda. '_Now __where_'_s __my __companion __Panpour_?'

The Panpour had been caught and I retrieved the Quick Ball before the Pansage decided to let Panpour out of the Quick Ball and smash it. The Pansage then realized that I had captured his companion but looked at Hilda as he wanted to see what she was capable of. The Pansage then motioned for Hilda to call out a Pokémon. Hilda picked up one of her Pokémon and threw it out.

"Go Dewott!" exclaimed Hilda as she sent out her starter Pokémon.

'_You_'_re __either __very __brave __or __very __foolish_,' the Pansage said to Hilda.

Hilda remained silent for a moment and turned her attention towards her Dewott, then said with a serious expression on her face. "Dewott, use Aqua Jet!" With that, the starter made her move and hit Pansage head on though the attack wasn't very effective.

'_Very __well, __if __that __is __how __things __are __going __to __be __then __take __this!__' _ The Grass-Type performed a powerful Vine Whip attack at his opponent.

"Quick dodge it!" ordered Hilda, her Pokemon barely managing to get out of the way of the attack that came towards her. "Now use Tackle!" Soon the Water-Type ran up and hit the shiny Pokemon with a powerful tackle but it wasn't enough to bring him down as he got back onto his feet soon afterwards.

'_It will take more than that to defeat me.'_

Just then, before either Hilda or Dewott could react, the latter was hit by another Vine Whip which nearly brought her down in the process. _'__Man, __that __smarts!__'_ she muttered to herself, getting up but knew that one more Grass-Type attack hits her, she's finished.

Unfortunately, she would soon see the shiny Pansage perform a Bullet Seed attack and as it was about to make contact, Hilda reacted fast. "Use your Scallop to block the attack but hurry!" she yelled out.

'_On__it!__' _said Dewott, taking her Scallop off her hips and used it to protect herself from the bullets that were fired at her.

"Alright, now it's time for a Razor Shell!" She did her signature attack which managed to land a direct hit on Pansage, sending him flying back a bit before landing on the ground. Hilda brought out a Pokéball and prayed this would work. "Pokéball go!" She threw it and watched as the shiny Grass-Type was sucked into the device.

While this was happening, I was watching as the ball was shaking several times and was a bit worried that it wouldn't work. Fortunately, the ball stopped and let out a familiar click to confirm that the Pokemon was captured. A smile formed on my face when Hilda began to lighten up.

"Alright, I did it!" she said as she retrieved the Pokéball and I approached her and Dewott.

"That was awesome Hilda!" I said to her, glad that she managed to get the shiny Pokemon and remembered something important. "Well what do you say we find Ash and Hilbert to see how those two are doing?"

Remaining silent, Hilda nodded her head as we soon began a way to finding our respective boyfriends which we knew they wouldn't be too far from us and after almost a minute or two, we managed to find them without too much trouble. "So, how did it go for you guys?" she asked.

Hilbert laughed in triumph while Ash sighed and shook as he had only one Pokéball in his hand.

"I caught three Pokémon and Ash over there only got one," answered Hilda. "Guess Ash is losing his touch, eh?"

Hilda became upset and slipped him upside his head and glared at him.

"Maybe you should think about trying a different answer this time," shot back Hilda. "Besides you boys are the losers this time."

Before Hilbert and Ash could say anything, the four of us noticed Ash's egg was glowing and began to hatch right before our eyes. The miracle of life coming into the world is always a sight to see wither it's another human being or Pokemon. I can certainly remember that joy when Manaphy and my Eevee hatched from their eggs.

"Ash, your egg is hatching," I said to Ash everyone's attention was then drawn to the hatching egg.

A new Pokémon came out the egg and looked unusual to me. But I guess it comes from not being from the Unova region, because the Pokémon was from the Unova region itself. The Pokémon had oval shaped eyes, a red scaled belly, yellow head, teeth exposed and outer skin that looked like trousers.

"I wonder what kind of Pokémon this is?" asked Ash as he pulled out his Pokédex.

'Scraggy, the Shedding Pokémon,' chirped Ash's Pokédex. ' The lower half of Scraggy's body is covered by a tough rubbery skin and when someone makes eye contact it responds with Headbutt.'

After sorting out the silliness that Scraggy caused, we came across a rich boy who looked out of place. The rich boy wore an orange suit with a red handkerchief in the jacket pocket. He also had a Pokéball in his left hand that he nervously held on to until he spotted us.

"Excuse me," the rich boy called out to us.

"Can we help you?" Hilda asked the rich kid.

"Yes, I can't seem to find a Pansage around here," explained the rich kid. "I'm even willing to trade this female Pikachu I have for a Pansage."

"A female Pikachu?" I asked in confusion as Hilda became interested in possibly getting her first Pokémon from the Kanto region.

Hilda looked to the Pokéball of the recently captured shiny Pansage and sighed. She was torn between having two shiny Pokémon and and getting her first Kanto Pokémon.

After about 20 minutes of silence, the rich boy gave a sigh of defeat and said, "Well I guess I'll keep looking for that Pansage I wish to have."

Hilda looked at the rich boy and said as she raised Pansage's Pokéball up as wanting her first Kanto Pokemon won out over having two shiny Pokémon.

"Hey I have a Pansage," Hilda called out to the rich boy as he turned around after hearing what Hilda said to him.

"Really?" the rich boy asked Hilda as he came back to us. "You have a Pansage?"

"Even better," answered Hilda with a beaming smile on her face. "I have a shiny Pansage."

Hilda let the recently caught Pansage out of it's Pokéball and showed to the rich boy.

"Well, it seems you're telling the truth," the rich boy said as he produced the Pokéball with the female Pikachu that he had.

He released the female Pikachu from it's Pokéball and revealed it to be a shiny Pikachu and have a V-shaped tail instead of the kind of tail that Ash's Pikachu has. Speaking of Ash's Pikachu, he suddenly had a look that said he had just been bitten the love bug and became smitten with her.

'_Oh __Hilda_,' began Ash's Pikachu, '_you __should __get __that __Pikachu_. _She __looks __really __cute __and __you __said __that __you __wanted __to __get __a __Kanto __Pokémon_, _right_?'

"I guess," answered Hilda as she ignored Hilbert and Ash's shocked look on their faces when they saw the shiny Pansage that she caught. "What the heck? I 'm getting a second shiny Pokémon and my first Kanto Pokémon at the same time."

'That's good thinking Hilda,' Victini said with a smile. 'It should be the kind of thinking that a trainer such as yourself should have if you're catching Pokémon.'

Hilda gave a big grin as her mind was made up and she said to the rich boy, "You have a deal. My shiny Pansage for your shiny female Pikachu."

"It is a deal indeed," said the rich boy as he readied a miniature trading machine to complete the deal.

The trading machine sucked up both Pokéballs and began the transaction of Pokémon trading. It took only a couple minutes for the trading process to be completed.

"Thank you for the Pansage," the rich boy said to Hilda. "I hope you'll take good care of her."

"Oh I'll take very good care of Hikaru," Hilda said with a big smile as she let the shiny female Pikachu out her Pokéball and held the shiny Pikachu in her arms. The rich boy gave a slight nod and went on his way.

An hour later we kept going through the Pinwheel Forest and looking at all the Pokemon in the forest. Many of the Pokémon were unfamiliar to Ash and I because we were obviously not from the Unova region. During our time wondering in the forest, Relena and her Suicune bodyguard joined us as Aurora had Relena ride on his back as we traveled through the forest. As we went through the forest, Hilda began to feel as if someone or something was watching. Victini and Pikachu listened to hear if anything was stalking the group.

'_Nope_,' said Pikachu. '_No __one __seems __to __be __following __us_. _We're __fine __for __now_.'

Hilda gave a nervous nod as she wasn't satisfied, but accepted Pikachu's report anyway. We kept pressing through the Pinwheel Forest until Hilda unfortunately got separated from us and Hilbert got hysterical before he went to go find Hilda.

Hilda's POV

Pinwheel Forest

[Author's note: This will be the only chapter you'll see someone else share their point of view unless it's a flashback]

Oh man, I felt scared as I was separated from May and the others.

"May, where are you?" I asked to no avail.

But apparently someone heard me as an older boy stepped forward from behind a tree.

"My, my what's a little girl like you doing here in a **big** forest like this?" asked the older boy.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"The name's Harley," he answered as he sounded like he was a gay guy. "And who might you be?"

"Hilda," I answered, "Hilda Touka and I'm from Nuvema Town."

"Ah, some fresh meat for the grinder," Harley said aloud to himself as he gave a smirk. "I guess I could use some practice before I go and face May Haruka and humiliate her."

"What? What's your beef with May?" I snapped at Harley. "She's a great Pokémon Coordinator and she's not called the Princess of Hoenn for nothing.

I continued, "I've seen what she can do in a contest. She's the best coordinator ever."

"I see," said Harley as he looked at me as I became uncomfortable when he seemed to be studying me. "So that will make us enemies now. I plan to make an example of you."

"What has May done to you?" I asked Harley.

"She's done nothing but cheat and humiliate me," answered Harley as he tried to get me to buy his lie.

"Whatever, I don't believe you," I snarled at Harley as I readied a Pokéball with a Pokémon in it.

"No matter, I'll humiliate you so badly, you'll never want to train Pokémon again," Harley said with a smile. "Go Cacturne. Let's go... 'easy' on this newbie."

I pulled out my Pokédex as I didn't recognize the tall green Pokémon. I aimed my Pokédex at the tall green Pokémon.

'Cacturne, the Scarecrow Pokémon,' chirped my Pokédex. 'Cacturne are said to be active at night and prey on Pokémon that are exhausted from the heat of the day.'

"What that thing won't tell you is that this Cacturne also puts the fright in newbies like you," added Harley.

'_Yes_, _just __like __this_. '_Boo_!'' said Cacturne as he demonstrated his frightful appeal.

"Uh huh," I replied in a not so impressed tone.

'_Let_'_s __wipe __the __forest __floor __with __this __little __girl_,' said Cacturne.

"I agree," Harley said with an evil smile.

"We'll see about that," I countered as I grabbed my first Pokéball. "Go Taillow!"

"Cacturne, use Bullet Seed and shoot that little birdie out of the sky," ordered Harley.

"Dodge it and blow that attack back at him with Gust," I countered.

Both Pokémon launched their attacks. Cacturne fired his Bullet Seed attack at my shiny Taillow. But my Taillow dodged the Bullet Seed and used her Gust attack to blow Cacturne's Bullet Seed back at Cacturne.

'_Ngh_, _wasn_'_t __expecting __that __little __bird __to __be __this __strong_,' Cacturne said as he tried to shield himself from his Bullet Seed being blown back at him

"So, we have a little challenge on our hands," assumed Harley as I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Taillow, use Aerial Ace," I ordered my shiny Taillow.

"Cacturne," began Harley as he gave an evil smirk, "use Sucker Punch."

As Taillow began to charge at Cacturne, the scarecrow Pokémon used a dirty attack and did some critical damage as Taillow was knocked out in one attack.

"H-How is that possible?" I asked as I was stunned to see my Taillow knocked out by Harley's Cacturne.

'_You have a lot to learn about battling with Pokémon_,_ little girl_,' Cacturne said to me. '_I_'_m a powerful level 43_. _That pails in comparison to your pathetic little runt Taillow_.'

I threw another Pokéball releasing the shiny Pikachu. Unfortunately things didn't go well as she was knocked out in one move as well.

"Hmm, looks like I'm gonna humiliate you and strip you of all your Pokémon," Harley said with an evil grin.

"That wasn't part of any discussion!" I exclaimed in protest.

"Oh contrary to what might think," began Harley. "When threw your first Pokéball, you agreed that I'd take all your Pokémon should you lose. You might as well just hand over all your Pokéballs and your Pokédex too. You can't beat me... at all."

I then got out my Illumise that I caught at Route 3 when they and some Volbeat Pokémon had swarmed the area.

"Humph, another... lame Pokémon you caught," taunted Harley as he snapped his fingers.

"Illumise, use Ice Punch!" I exclaimed as Illumise's fist became like ice and she charged at Cacturne.

Unfortunately, I forgot that Harley's Cacturne still had the Sucker Punch attack. The Grass/Dark Pokémon used it's Sucker Punch and it nearly knocked out Illumise but she manged to land a direct hit on Cacturne.

"Cacturne, this little girl is wasting our time," Harley said to his scarecrow Pokémon. "Take out the little weaklings left..."

'_And another trainer will be ready for humiliation at the Castellia contest_,' agreed Cacturne.

As I readied my Dewott's Pokéball, an attack from the bushes behind me came and struck Cacturne. I turned around and saw the one Pokémon I never expected that I would ever see since the time I was six years old.

"No," I said in shock and disbelief. "It can't be! You're Cobalion, the Iron Will Pokémon."

I pulled out my Pokédex to confirm that it was really Cobalion.

'Cobalion, the Iron Will Pokémon,' chirped my Pokédex. 'It is said that a glare from this Pokémon could make unruly Pokémon obey it. It is also said that it fought against humans when they oppressed Pokémon and has a body and heart made of steel.'

"Hmm... a Pokémon like that could certainly help me out in this god-awful region," Harley said to Cacturne.

'I am not here to help you in your petty quest for revenge,' Cobalion said before turning to me. 'The time has come young Heroine of Ideals.'

"How can I be the Heroine of Ideals," I began to ask Cobalion bitterly, "if I can't beat opponents that are gonna overpower me?"

Cobalion then smiled to me gently as he replied, 'Fear not, I will help you. Your Dewott needs to rest after her last battle with that Pansage.'

"I guess so," I said to Cobalion as I shrugged my shoulders. "Go Cobalion."

'_You_'_ll be going down like the other Pokémon weaklings I took down_,' Cacturne said to Cobalion.

'Your arrogance will be your downfall Grass Pokémon,' countered Cobalion before he turned and looked at me. 'Scan me with your Pokédex, you'll see what attacks I have.'

I did what Cobalion said and saw what attacks he had.

'Wow,' I thought as I saw what attacks he had as I scanned Cobalion with my Pokédex. 'Iron Head, Flash Cannon, X-Scissor, Bounce, Sacred Sword and Zen Headbutt. What power for such a legendary Pokémon.'

"Cobalion, use Iron Head on Cacturne," I said to Cobalion with enthusiasm.

'Now we're talking,' said Cobalion as his head began glow with silver energy.

"Humph, another weakling, another win for us Cacturne," Harley said as he snapped his fingers.

Cacturne used his Sucker Punch and unknowingly began his and his trainer's downfall. Cobalion then began to glow as he was hit by the Sucker Punch attack.

"Wha? What's going on here?" Harley asked in shock as he saw Cobalion glow.

"Oh, it's just a little ability called Justified," I answered as I somehow I knew the answer but couldn't explain how I knew it. "Justified raises Cobalion's physical attack when a Pokémon uses a Dark-type attack on him."

"Any D-Dark-type attack?" Harley asked as he stammered nervously.

'_I think we just made a big mistake_,' Cacturne said as it gulped in terror and had a sweatdrop on his head.

'You are right about that,' agreed Cobalion.

"Cobalion, use X-Scissor instead of Iron Head," I said to Cobalion.

'As you wish young Touka,' replied Cobalion as he used his X-Scissor attack on the Grass/Dark Pokémon.

'_Gah_!' exclaimed Cacturne as the X-Scissor caused devastating damage to him.

'Looks like my X-Scissor attack did more damage to your Cacturne than I thought,' Cobalion said informed Harley.

All Harley could do was grit his teeth after his first Pokémon had been defeated in one attack.

'May I see your Pokédex entry about Cacturne?' Cobalion asked me.

I gave a slight nod and showed Cobalion the entry of Cacturne.

'Hmm... I see,' Cobalion said as he listened to the entry my Pokédex gave of Cacturne. 'So the Pokémon I defeated was a Grass/Dark Pokémon from the Hoenn region.'

"I'm not going down that easy," snarled Harley as he reached for his next Pokéball. "Wigglytuff, you're on. Let's take that Pokémon down."

I pulled out my Pokédex again and scanned the pink and white Pokémon.

'Wigglytuff, the Balloon Pokémon,' said my Pokédex. 'Wigglytuff is known to have fine fur pleasant to the touch. Wigglytuff also can also take in air to expand it's body.'

"Hmm, looks like a pretty good Pokemon." I commented closing my Pokédex. "Let's see how it measures up again Cobalion."

"You'll regret being so confident!" Harley exclaimed. "Come on, Wigglytuff, use a Sing attack!"

The pink and white Pokemon with the long rabbit ears began singing a lulling tune, that caused Cobalion, much to my dismay, to apparently doze off. My new friend swayed slightly from side to side, then lowered his head and closed his eyes, staring to sleep…

"Hah! Score one for me!" Harley exclaimed. "Even the strongest Pokemon in the world is helpless when he's asleep! And now, Wigglytuff… attack him with Wake Up Slap!"

'_Right away!_' Wigglytuff exclaimed, running towards Cobalion to hit him with a powerful slap. I knew that Wake Up Slap does more damage to sleeping Pokemon, and it's Fighting type move that is super effective to Steel types like Cobalion… but just when Wigglytuff was about to hit, Cobalion's eyes snapped open, and a horn made of pure light sprouted out of his head, hitting Wigglytuff head on and causing the pink and white Pokemon to fly backwards for a long distance, before landing in a stunned heap at the dumbfounded Harley's feet!

"Way to go, Cobalion!" I exclaimed happily. "I… I thought you were asleep! How did you…"

I was sure I saw Cobalion smile slightly. 'Simple. I just pretended to fall asleep in order to lull this idiot in a false sense of security. What you have just seen is my signature attack, or rather my and my brother and sister's' signature attack, Sacred Sword… which just happens to be a Fighting-type attack.'

"Phew…" I said with a relieved sigh. "That was great thinking, Cobalion, but next time, please warn me when you're about to fake out your opponent like that. For a moment, I was afraid he's hit you."

Of course, Harley was not happy at all about the whole thing… and in fact, he looked like he was about to freak out! "No, no, no, no, no! How can this be? I thought I had this in the bag!" he shouted. "How did you manage to do it?"

"Ask Cobalion, he was the one who knocked out your Pokemon in one hit." I said with a small smirk. "Anyway, I thought you were going to humiliate me so badly I wouldn't want to train Pokemon any more. As of now, you're not really impressing me."

"Oh really? Well, you aren't going to be making fun of me anymore after I show you this!" Harley fired back, recalling his defeated Wigglytuff and then calling out another Pokemon. "Show her what I mean, Octillery!"

Right in front of me and Cobalion appeared a Pokemon similar to a huge red octopus with yellow suction cups and a droopy stare, who anchored itself to the ground with his long tentacles. Again, I was curious to see what kind of Pokemon that was, so I produced my Pokédex and scanned the new opponent.

'Octillery, the Jet Pokemon.' It said. 'It loves to lurk inside holes or between rock. It sometimes sprays ink on prey by sticking out only its mouth.'

"So I'm dealing with a Water-type Pokémon," I said to myself as I looked to see which region Octillery came from.

Before I could research which region Octillery came from, Harley cleared his throat and said, "Octillery is from my travels in the Johto region. I caught him as a Remoraid and trained him up to evolve into this wonderful Pokémon."

I shook my head as I would have to figure out how to beat his Water-type from the Johto region.

"Octillery, use Flamethrower on Cobalion," began Harley. His red Octillery sent out fire from his mouth directly at Cobalion.

"Dodge it Cobalion and use Bounce," I countered as Cobalion jumped up dodging Octillery's Flamethrower.

Cobalion dropped down and struck Octillery hard with his Bounce attack. Once Cobalion struck Octillery, it began to glow.

'_I won_'_t go down so easily as you think_,' Harley's Octillery said to us as he continued to glow for three more seconds and stopped.

"Octillery, use Seed Bomb," Harley ordered his Octillery.

'_Alright Mr_._ I_'_m-so-macho_,' began Octillery as it leapt in the sky, '_think fast_!'

"What?!" Cobalion and I asked in shock as the Octillery was quite fast and fired a barrage of hard-shelled seeds at Cobalion.

"Oh I'm sorry that I forgot to mention my Octillery's Moody ability," snickered Harley. "You'll love it. Two of my Octillery's random stats increase highly at the cost of one measly stat. Looks like Octillery's physical Attack and Speed increased and at the cost his physical Defense. Small price to pay for victory and ensuring you never go near Pokémon again."

Cobalion and I looked at each other and then came up with a plan.

"Cobalion, use Flash Cannon then Zen Headbutt," I ordered Cobalion.

Cobalion looked to me wondering why I wanted him to use Flash Cannon against the Johto water-type Pokémon but noticed I had a neutral face and sent him a quick glance before looking back at Harley. Cobalion seemed to catch on to what I was planning and used Flash Cannon at Octillery.

"Hmph, using a Steel-type move against a Water-type is really foolish," snickered Harley. "Octillery, Flamethrower."

'_They just won_'_t learn will they_?' asked Octillery before using his Flamethrower intercepting Cobalion's Flash Cannon only to see Cobalion had leapt up and his head was glowing with his willpower as he charged in close and struck Octillery hard.

'_You_'_ll pay for that Cobalion_,' sneered Octillery as he countered with Payback.

"NO!" exclaimed Harley as he saw his Octillery using Payback on Cobalion. "DON'T USE PAYBACK ON COBALION!"

But it was too late as the Payback attack struck Cobalion and he began to glow again as Cobalion's physical attack rose once again thanks to his Justified ability and Octillery's stupidity.

'_Uh oh_,' said Octillery as it had a sweatdrop on his forehead.

"Use Sacred Sword on Octillery... Master Cobalion" I said to Cobalion.

'That's the first time I've ever heard a human being ever call me 'Master Cobalion',' Master Cobalion said to me before using his Sacred Sword on Octillery causing dust and dirt to kick up.

Once the dust and dirt settled down, Octillery had circles in his eyes and sighed in defeat and Harley lying on his back and was gritting his teeth and it almost sounded like he was grinding his teeth.

"That's IT!" roared Harley. "I'll make it my personal mission to see that I get my revenge on YOU AS WELL!"

That was a mistake as Hilbert had burst out from behind a bush and then kicked Harley in between the legs where guys don't like to get hit.

"You keep your ugly hands away from my woman you jerk," snarled Hilbert as he glared at Harley

My eyes softened as Hilbert said that as I was glad that Hilbert found me. I planted a kiss on his left cheek sweetly.

"You so sweet," I said to Hilbert sweetly as I wrapped my arms around his waist and much to Cobalion's fascination

'So the Heroine of Ideals and the Hero of Truth are in love with each other,' summarized Cobalion. 'The princes would be shocked to see this.'

"Come on Hilda," Hilbert said as he held on my hand and began to lead the way. "Ash and the others are waiting for us. Ash even had to get Virizion out and May has Victini out to help search for you."

'Virizion?' Cobalion asked in surprise. 'She's with a human trainer?'

It took a bit of explaining but Cobalion understood what was going on.

'Nonetheless, young Touka will still require my assistance,' said Cobalion. 'So put me in whatever humans hold Pokémon in.'

[Back to May's POV]

We spent a lot of time searching for Hilda even help from Virizion and Victini we weren't getting far. Relena and her boyfriend, who joined us recently, joined us in searching for Hilda. Things weren't looking good until we saw Hilda and Hilbert were on the back of another Pokémon that looked very familiar to Virizion.

'Eh, Cobalion?' Virizion asked the Pokémon that had Hilda and Hilbert on it's back. 'Is that really you Cobalion?'

Hilda got off the back of the Pokémon Virizion called Cobalion and explained what happened to her. She told us about her battle against one of my loudmouth rivals, Harley. She told us how Cobalion came to her aid and how he helped Hilda turn the tide and make Harley look like a big fool. I snickered at the thought of Harley getting humiliated. Harley certainly had it coming to him since I first met him. It was a shame that it wasn't me who humiliated him, but I was glad that Harley got some form of humiliation. I hoped that he learned his lesson until Hilda told me that Harley was now going to come after me and Hilda. I shook my in disbelief and was wishing Drew was here to help serve a slice of humble pie. But I guess once we get to Castellia City, I'll make sure and warn the officials about Harley and see if I could contact someone back in Kanto or Hoenn to let them know that Harley is getting out of control and should no longer be allowed to participate in contests ever again.

Once things were sorted out, we finally exited Pinwheel Forest in route to Castellia City for the next contest and gym. As we exited the forest, we heard someone coming from behind us.

"Hey wait up a second!" called the voice of our all too familiar person. "Ash Ketchum stop for a second!"

Ash and I turned around to see the gym leader of the Cerulean City, Misty Katsumi. She was wearing the same outfit she wore when I first met with my brother Max. She had a sleeveless yellow jacket with a blue collar and yellow form fitting shorts hiding a crimson swimsuit underneath. She looked like she was panting heavily as she finally came to a stop and took a large gulp of air eventually slowing her breathing. Cilan, Hilda and Hilbert looked to Ash and I as did Victini, Virizion and Cobalion.

'Do you know that human Ash?' Virizion asked Ash.

"Yes," Ash answered Virizion with a slight grin. "Her name is Misty. She's the Cerulean City gym leader back in the Kanto region."

"A gym leader? Wow," replied Hilbert with a surprised look on his face.

Victini took one look at Misty and then has sparkles in his eyes as he floated over to Misty.

'Hello there,' began Victini as I had a sweatdrop on my forehead. 'You have such beautiful hair. Just as red as the brightest fire burning.'

Misty was surprised at the sight of Victini and that it spoke to her through telepathy. Misty blushed as she looked at Victini as he complemented her about her hair.

"Oh you're such a cutie," Misty said to Victini after got over the sudden shock of hearing Victini in her head. "And you're very sweet too."

'Yes I am,' Victini said as he gave a large grin.

"But you're not my type," Misty replied with a smirk as she walked over to the rest of us.

Victini's eyes widened in shock as Misty dropped the bombshell on him leaving him to crash to the ground with tears streaming down his face.

"Sorry but the tears won't work on me," said Misty as she turned to see Victini streaming with tears down his face

Misty had introduced herself to Cilan, Hilda and Hilbert and we finally got under way on our journey with Relena and Richie joining us for the journey through Unova. The next leg of our journey would be something monumental for Hilda and Hilbert. But you'll find out later.

**Me: And cut! Finally, another chapter done. Hope you guys won't mind if Misty joins the group.**

May: No, it's fine. It'll be fun to have Misty with us for a while.

**Me: Thanks May. I want to extend my thanks to EmperorDraco7 and Lily Nadesico for helping me finish this chapter. I'm taking a short break for a while so I can work on my Halo fic for a while. Have a Merry Christmas and safe New Year my friends. Thank you for your continued support of this fic. **


	14. Christmas Special

May: Hello everyone. Sparky decided to put up a new chapter for the fic bearing mine and Ash's names in the title. It is certainly perfect and in time for the holidays. ^_^ Victini, can you handle the disclaimer for us?

Victini: Sure thing May. Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. Nintendo owns it all and Sparky is just using them for entertainment and to make me look really good too. [Left ear grabbed from behind by May] Ow ow ow! Why must it be my left ear? Ow!

May: Let's go Victini. Sparky's beginning the Christmas chapter. Let's him work in peace.

**Me: -_-' Um, thanks May... and Victini.**

Bonus Holiday Chapter: A Very Unexpected Christmas

After we exited Pinwheel Forest and Misty had joined us, we stopped at a small town as snow began to fall and we weren't going to going to make it to Castellia City. But for me, Ash, Hilda and Hilbert the contest in Castellia City was going to start for another three weeks into the next year. Also to know is that we decided to stay outside the forest for a week to train for the next contest and gym badge. But of course with Ash, one week turned into two weeks of training. Luckily for Misty, she managed to catch at least two new Water Pokémon with the Pokémon she already had with her. It was a group of Pokémon too. Hilda was scanning each of Misty's water Pokémon except for the Panpour and Piplup she caught. Misty had a Luvdisc that blessed Ash and I with eternal love as well as Hilda and Hilbert, a Corsola, her Gyrados she used during the Mirage Kingdom battle, a Piplup she said that she found abandoned outside of the Cerulean City gym and a Wartortle she trained up from a female Squirtle she got in a trade for another water Pokémon she had originally caught. Both Hilda and Hilbert were like kids in a candy store with Misty's water Pokémon.

As we entered the town Ash seemed a bit nervous as the day we entered the village was my 16th birthday and normally I would ask for a car, but that wasn't something to ask from Ash. If I wanted a car, I was gonna ask my parents for that, not my boyfriend. All I wanted from Ash was a nice night on the town and that's where things started to get interesting and unexpected. I had expected Misty would get jealous and try to break me and Ash up so she could take him for herself, but Misty assured me that she was already taken and was dating a Pokémon Watcher named Tracy even though it was a long distance relationship. I breathed a sigh of relief that Misty no longer had any interest in Ash. Ash was training with his Pokémon when I talked to Misty about her love interest. The interesting stuff started after we entered the small of Pinwheel Town. Ash was a bit secretive as I noticed that he was whispering something to Cilan and Cilan nodding as he apparently liked the idea.

"I'll arrange it as soon as we get settled in with our lodging for night," Cilan said to Ash.

"Thanks," Ash said to Cilan as he came back to my side and held my hand.

We walked for another two hours until reached the entrance of Pinwheel Town. Some of us were tired and wanted a long rest for our feet as we couldn't walk another step when we made made it to the Pokémon Center to get our Pokémon healed from all the training we did in the Pinwheel Forest. Instead of lodging in the Pokémon Center for the night, we decided to stay in a nice hotel that was Pokémon friendly. The hotel was a nice one and a little bit pricey but my best friend Relena paid for the hotel rooms. The hotel had an indoor heated pool, a sauna, a nice restaurant and the rooms were very nice. Our rooms were actually suites with a queen sized bed and plenty of room for all of our Pokémon in the room. But I know that Manaphy and Victini were going to want to be on the bed with us. Manaphy was obvious because Ash and I are his 'parents' and he wanted to be with his mama and papa. ^_^ It always brings a smile to my face when Manaphy calls Ash and I his parents. As for Victini... he never really said why he wanted to always sleep on beds but I guess Victini always slept on a bed when he was living on Liberty Island before being taken away by these Team Plasma guys. Ash and I went to our rooms with Virizion behind us looking a bit nervous and who could blame her as the hotel wasn't a place she was used to sleeping in the forest and in the outdoors. Cobalion was also nervous being in the hotel despite it being Pokémon friendly. Hilda put a reassuring hand on Cobalion's left cheek and rubbed his cheek gently hoping that Cobalion would feel at ease.

"I know you feel uneasy Master Cobalion," began Hilda, "but we're only gonna be here for the night and then we go cross the Skyarrow Bridge to Castellia City." Hilda looked to Virizion as well. Ash looked to Virizion as well with a reassuring smile.

'Alright Ash,' Virizion said cautiously, 'as long as we're here just for one night.

'I'm with Virizion,' agreed Cobalion. "We should only be here for one night.'

Later, after we all set our bags in the rooms, each couple decided to go our separate ways for the night. Hilbert and Hilda both took showers dressed in causal clothes and went to a diner for their date while Cobalion and the other Pokémon they had with them were back in their hotel room. I heard that Cobalion tried to accompany Hilda and Hilbert. But Hilda gave Cobalion a peck kiss on his left cheek and assured him that they were just going on a date and that they would be back later. Virizion looked to me and seemed to trust me as Ash said that we were going out and watched Manaphy. I didn't want to burden Virizion with babysitting Manaphy but Virizion didn't mind watching Manaphy while Ash and I were out on a date. I had to put my foot down with Victini and tell him not to follow us or Hilda and Hilbert. Victini sighed in defeat as he knew my glare meant that I wasn't going to change my mind.

'[sigh] Yes May,' said Victini as he drooped his shoulders defeat.

Ash came back to our room after mysteriously disappearing for an hour. He returned with a smirk on his face as he then he went to take a shower after I had just finished getting ready for our date. Ash was quick with his shower and getting ready. I decided to wear the same outfit I wore at the Wallace Cup in the Sinnoh region minus the headgear I wore. The outfit was a burnt orange shirt with yellow lining on the edges of the shirt and outlining a design with a heart shaped flower and was also a little tight leaving my stomach exposed, my skirt had the same burnt orange and yellow lining on the top of the skirt while the reminder of the skirt was a nice lavender color and I had a sapphire blue gem heart choker on my neck to match my eye color. Oddly enough, it was Relena who gave me that choker; she said it would help me to get Ash's attention. Heh, I was worried that Relena would come down on me because of my outfit but she's been a bit lenient with me as I don't always wear such outfits. Manaphy and Victini looked at my outfit as I modeled it for them and Virizion.

'Looking good May,' complimented Victini.

'_Mama looks really cute_,' replied Manaphy.

Virizion was clueless as she didn't know what I was doing. It was going to take time to help Virizion understand the concept of fashion. When Ash came out of the bathroom, he was wearing light tan khaki pants with a white and blue button up shirt sort of like his shirt he has on all the time while we're here in Unova. I must say that I was surprised that Ash had a shirt like that. Ash reached out to take my hand which I held out to him and began a night I wouldn't forget.

Instead of leaving the hotel to go to a restaurant, we went to the hotel's restaurant where I was a bit surprised to see Cilan there.

"Good evening to both of you," Cilan said to Ash and I as he handed us what a menu with some very delicious choices of food . "What could we start you out with for drinks?"

"Green tea with a splash of Pecha Berry juice and a slice of lemon too," I answered Cilan

"Ah, an excellent choice," replied Cilan as wrote down my drink order. "You certainly have such fine tastes."

"Well, it comes from developing tastes while I was traveling ," I replied to Cilan.

"I'll take a Mountain Dew," replied Ash.

"Are you sure that would be a good idea for a date, Ash?" asked Cilan.

Ash thought about it for a moment and then answered, "I guess I'll have Sprite with a lemon slice."

Cilan gave a slight nod and wrote it down on his notepad and went to the kitchen to begin to work on our dinner orders as we looked through the menu to look and see what was good to start out with for an appetizer. Cilan then came back with our drinks and gave them to us just as we ordered.

"What can I get you for an appetizer?" Cilan asked us.

We looked through the appetizers to see what we could start out with and then Ash found something interesting.

"I'll try this Italian wedding soup," Ash said to Cilan.

"An excellent choice," said Cilan as he wrote down what Ash wanted.

"I'll have fried green beans," I said to Cilan.

"Another fine choice," Cilan replied with a smile on his face as he wrote what I was wanting to start out with."

As Ash and I were enjoying our dinner at the hotel restaurant, we looked out the window and saw snow falling and a Pokémon high in the sky using it's power to make it snow.

"I wonder what kind of Pokémon it is," Ash said as he studied the Pokémon.

"Ahem," I said to Ash as got his attention away from the Pokémon causing the snow to fall outside.

"Oh... sorry," replied Ash as he turned his attention back to me.

"You know I gotta admit this is a nice restaurant the hotel has," I said to Ash after I took a sip of my tea. "How did you ever get a reservation to this restaurant?"

"Oh, that's my little secret," answered Ash as he gave me a wink with a small grin.

"Fine, keep your little secrets," I said playfully in mock hurt tone.

"You'll find out later," said Ash with a grin on his face.

I returned the grin with a smile on my face as we got to talking about our next move once we got to Castellia City. Of course Ash was thinking that we could go back into the Pinwheel Forest and train a little longer. But I wasn't too thrilled about going back into the Pinwheel forest as I wanted to get back on track so we could get Castellia City soon and before Christmas. I had planned on asking my parents and Ash's mother to go to Castellia City so we could spend Christmas together.

"Alright you two," Cilan said as he came back with our appetizers. "Here are your appetizers to start out with. Have you decided on what you want for the main course?"

"I'll have the bacon-wrapped rib-eye, medium well," answered Ash, "mixed vegetables and a baked potato with butter and sour cream."

Cilan wrote down Ash's order and he then took my order as well.

"I'll have the same thing Ash is having," I answered Cilan. Cilan gave a slight nod and wrote down my order as well.

"Very well then I'll personally cook these orders myself and make them like you've never tasted before," Cilan said with enthusiasm as he bolted back to the kitchen with a spark of inspiration.

"Oh boy, he's definitely like Brock," Ash said with a small smile on his face.

I giggled as I replied, "You're not kidding. He definitely reminds me of Brock with his cooking."

Both of us giggled at the thought of Cilan being like Brock. I could definitely see Cilan and Brock facing each other in Iron Chief Jublife City. Ash and I continued to chat and eat until Cilan came out with our main course and served it to us. After Cilan served us our main course, Relena and her boyfriend... I'm sorry, I mean fiance, walked by and noticed us. Guess I forgot to mention that my best was getting married to her boyfriend. They stopped by and talked to us as we ate our main course. But then Ash looked to Relena's fiance and came closer to my seat which surprised me. He then got on one knee which surprised me, Relena and her fiance.

"May," he began as he held my hand gently, "We've been dating for a couple years and I feel like that I've known you all my life.

My eyes widened as Ash continued, "I want to spend my entire life with you."

Ash then produced a small boy and opened it to reveal a beautiful ring which caused my mouth open. The ring had a beautiful was 18-karat white gold band with a blue sapphire set on the band.

"May Haruka, will you marry me?" Ash asked as he held the box.

Tears fell down my cheeks as he finally popped the question I had been waiting for him to ask me. My answer was simple as I crashed my lips on to his lips and kissed him passionately with tears still running down my cheeks. Relena and Richie, her fiance, were equally shocked to see Ash proposing to me. Relena tapped Ash on shoulder and said to him, "You take care of my best friend and treat her with respect. Otherwise you'll to answer to me... and Aurora."

Ash had a sweatdrop on his forehead when Relena sternly warned him about what would happen.

"I already have to worry about her father," Ash said to Relena. "But thanks for the warning."

The rest of the night was just simply romantic. Ash told me that he asked Cilan for help with making his proposal to me romantic as he could make it with Cilan's help. I must say that Ash did a very good job and so did Cilan. For dessert, we had Key Lime pie but it didn't matter as we went out and went to go try some frozen custard made with Moomoo milk. It was really delicious and we ran into Hilda and Hilbert while we got frozen custard. I showed them the engagement ring Ash gave me and told them that Ash proposed to me. This came as a big shock to Hilda and Hilbert after I told them that Ash proposed to me. I had the biggest smile on my face as the night was just perfect for me.

An hour later, we were back at the hotel and most of us decided to go back to our rooms and call it a night. I told Misty that Ash proposed to me and showed her the engagement ring. Misty was very happy to hear that Ash and I became engaged. She asked me for the details and I told her along with Virizion who joined the conversation as I waited for Ash to change so we could go swimming in the indoor pool. Virizion listened patiently but didn't understand what we were talking about. I guess she hasn't been around humans long enough to understand our ways and traditions. So Victini had to explain what Misty and I were talking about to his best knowledge.

"So you think Cilan is as good as Brock?" Misty asked me.

"Yeah," I answered Misty. "I told Hilda and Hilbert that I thought both Cilan and Brock could compete in Iron Chief Jublife City."

Misty and I laughed at the thought of Cilan and Brock competing in the competitive cooking show produced back in Sinnoh. It would certainly be a cooking battle of epic proportions most likely ending in a tie.

Once Ash was done in the bathroom, it was my turn to change so we could go to the pool and go for a little late night swim and then heading on our way to Castellia City the next morning. I was quick to change into my swimsuit as I put on a sapphire blue one piece swimsuit with some floral print on it. I was quick to grab Ash's hand as I wanted him all to myself tonight. As we shut the door to our room, I heard Virizion say to Victini and Pikachu, 'Humans are certainly interesting. Although it might just be me since I don't interact with humans much.'

'It takes a while to get used to interacting with humans,' Victini explained to Virizion. 'I'll help you and Cobalion get used to speaking with humans.'

'_But you have to start by speaking with your trainers first_,' added Pikachu.

Ash and I went down to the indoor pool and found Relena and Richie swimming by themselves with Relena's Pokémon bodyguard, Aurora, lying at the pool edge just keeping an eye out for any trouble that might come. But when Aurora saw me and Ash coming into the pool area, he relaxed his guard a bit as we entered the pool area.

"Hey there's our favorite couple who just got engaged," Relena said to her fiance as she saw us entering the pool area. "Come on in; the water's just fine."

I was about to jump into the pool when Ash picked me up gingerly, bridal-style... right before he chucked me into the pool. I was a bit sore about that and decided to get back at him when an opportunity presented itself when Ash turned his back to me. I leapt halfway out of the pool, grabbed him by his waist and pulled him into the pool with me.

"Whatcha do that for?" asked Ash after he coughed out some pool water.

"That's what happens when you pick me up and decide to chuck me into the water," I answered Ash in a silky and seductive tone with an evil smirk on my face. "Maybe next time you'll think twice about picking me up and throwing me into the pool."

Relena and Richie looked to us with a gentle smile and then decided to leave the pool and go back to their room. My best friend and her fiance dried off and left the pool with Aurora right behind them close behind. Ash and I waited a few minutes until we couldn't see Relena and Richie and then once they were gone, Ash and I had the pool to ourselves. I looked at Ash lovingly and then planted a kiss on his lips which he passionately returned. As we kissed, a song played on the speakers in the pool room.

[**Song: Tease Me, Please Me ** www . youtube dot com watch? v=HqSRYFP57 tQ&list= LlmaDTwJ-3aIy RkW0A cX0L5Q]

_**This love, we have together, **__Is so strong_

The song began beautifully as we kissed each other passionately. I had a feeling that we were going to have another romantic moment. I had to guess that Relena and Richie did this for us. I was going to make sure Ash and I enjoy the moment as the song continued.

_**I want to, be with you,**__ All night long_

Ash pulled me closer to him as this part of the verse was sung.

_**Baby, hand in hand, we are together, **__I want your love_

Both of us grabbed each others hands as we looked at each other lovingly. If there was one thing the female singer got right, it was that I wanted Ash's love.

_**Come on, let's stay here for forever,**__ I can't get enough!_

Oh I definitely wanted to stay there forever and I definitely couldn't get enough of the moment as it singers said. It was an exhilarating feeling for both of us as the song then moved on to the chorus.

**Tease me, I want your love just, Please me, I need your love just, Hold me, forever, and never let me go!**

As the the singers said 'Tease me' Ash began to tickle me in the area I am ticklish, my stomach. But as the song reached 'Please me' I took the reins and pressed my body on his body and kissed him as I was determined to make sure that Ash didn't know what the singers meant when they said 'Please me'... until he and I tied the knot. There was a brief period between the chorus and a short bridge and then the bridge came.

**Tease me, (**echoing**)tease me, I want your love, just please me..**

We followed along with the bridge as it was similar to the chorus a bit and of course I made sure Ash never knew the meaning of 'Please me'. And then an instrumental bridge came along as we playfully splashed each other during that time, unaware that Virizion, Hilda, Hilbert, Victini, Manaphy, Misty and even my best friend and her fiance were watching us from the stairs. Our human friends seemed to be enjoying us having our romantic moment.

_**Touch me, with your arms around me,**__ I need your love _

I put my arms around his waist just like the male singer was urging the female singer to do. Ash could tell that I needed his love as he held me in his arms gently.

_**I want to, be with you,**__ You're all I'm thinking of!_

One thing was evident with that line: Ash wanted to be with me and he was all I was thinking about him at that moment.

_**Baby, hand in hand, we are together,**__ I want your love _

_**Come on, let's stay here forever,**__ I can't get enough!_

**Tease me, I want your love just, Please me, I need your love just, Hold me, forever, and never let me go!**

For the rest of the song, we danced through the words of the song. I'm sure glad my mom taught me dancing, because I sure taught Ash a thing or two about dancing. I managed to get a glimpse of our friends watching us in the pool from the balcony of the next level and saw Relena give me a wink and a thumbs up. As the song ended, Ash and I kissed slowly and passionately, enjoying every second that went by until we parted our lips.

Once we were done swimming 30 minutes later, Ash and I dried off and Ash carried me bridal-style back to our room where we were greeted by Virizion and Manaphy, who leapt off Virizion's head to hug both of us.

'_Mama and Papa are back_!' Manaphy exclaimed happily as wrapped his arms around our necks.

'I must say that you two are the most affectionate humans I've come across,' Virizion said to us. Both of us smiled and gave Virizion a slight of agreement.

Unfortunately our plans to reach Castellia City were frozen dead in it's tracks as the snow that fell accumulated to 2 feet of snow and road to Castellia City was treacherous and near impossible to travel on even on the back of Aurora,Virizion and Cobalion. It almost seemed that my planned Christmas surprise would be ruined and we ended up being stuck in Pinwheel Town for a week and a half including Christmas. For the biggest surprise came on Christmas day when we all went to the lobby and saw not only Ash's mother, but my parents, Max and as well as the Sinnoh champion, Cynthia herself. Our time with family and friends went well. I showed my parents the Pokémon that I caught to them and Victini nearly caused a fiasco when he tried to hit on Cynthia. Max's Gardevoir had to grab Victini by his left ear and pull him away from Cynthia. I saw Max's other Pokémon and he raised up well too. Along with his Gardevoir, he had an Infernape, Blastoise, an Oshawott, Haunter and a Sceptile. He had very good Pokémon with him and I imagined he'd raise up his Oshawott into a Samurott, Oshawott's final evolved form. As the Christmas celebration went on, Ash and I broke the news to our parents that we were engaged. It was quite a shock to my dad, but he got over it... eventually.

Everyone had a great time celebrating Christmas together and the gifts were all wonderful. Ash had a talk with my dad about marrying me. He made Ash promise that I was going to be the only woman in his life and no one else would take my place. Ash assured my father that he wasn't going to cheat on me and that I was the only woman he wanted in his life... maybe his mother on a rare occasion. Dad laughed at that last statement and gave Ash his blessing to marry me.

Our families left to go back home or wherever they were traveling in while we packed up our gear and some of our gifts that we still wanted with us.

'I guess we're on our way to Castellia City, right?' Virizion asked us.

Ash and I gave her a slight nod for our answer as we held each others hand with my engagement ring showing and glistening in the sun.

"Let's continue on our adventure," Ash said eagerly we set off on to our next destination.

**Merry Christmas to all of you who read this wonderful fic. I thank you for all your support wanted to give you guys a little Christmas present. Sorry there wasn't much Christmas theme to it.**

Victini: I'm glad my trainer and Ash are engaged to be married. Can't wait for the wedding. ^_^ OW! NOT AGAIN! [Being drug away by Misty this time]

Misty: Come on Romeo, let's leave Sparky to have his little break.


	15. Chapter 14 part 1

May: Well, it's time for another chapter to be written by Sparky. Hey Misty, can you do the disclaimer this time, please?

Misty: Sure thing May. Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. Otherwise things would be a lot different then they are.

Victini: Hey! Doing the disclaimer is supposed to be my job! [Has left ear pulled from behind by Misty] OW! Not again! I hate having my left ear pulled!

Misty: Let's go Victini. Sparky has work to do.

May: -_-' Um... go ahead and start Sparky. Before Victini tries to take over and embellish things too much.

Me: -_-' Sure thing May.

14: First Encounters and the Sword of the Veil part 1

Christmas went well for all of us as we enjoyed exchanging gifts to one another and spent the week in each others company as the snow melted slowly. Unfortunately Virizion and Cobalion were still uneasy about being in the hotel for much longer than needed. I really didn't understand their uneasiness as Ash and Hilda trained with them quite frequently with their other Pokémon. I certainly trained with my own Pokémon for the Castellia City contest. The hotel manager told us that we would reach Castellia City in four days on foot. But that wasn't something that would get us down. We were used to walking a lot so we spent a day getting supplies for our trek to Castellia City. As much as we didn't want to, the group decided to leave on New Year's Day in order to make up lost time. Virizion and Cobalion were pleased that we finally decided to leave soon. Even as we gathered supplies for the trek, we also gathered some small food items for a New Year's Eve party. Relena planned out the party as I had something special in mind because I wanted some alone time with my now fiance.

New Year's Day, we left Pinwheel Town to head to Castellia City for the next contest and gym battle for both couples to participate. Both Ash and I had big smiles on our faces after having a... rather interesting night after we slipped away from the New Year's Eve party to have some... alone time with each other. Relena talked to me about it and I assured her that what happened during the New Year's Eve party wasn't going to happen for a while. Relena and I were quick to drop it as Aurora got his trainer on his back. Cobalion saw this and was confused at first as he went and asked Aurora why he had Relena on his back.

'I protect Relena,' began Aurora. 'She is the youngest daughter of the seventh gym leader in the Atlantica Islands and a princess of the Kaiou royal family.'

'I see,' replied Cobalion.

'She calls me 'father' too,' Aurora said to Cobalion as he chuckled too. 'She sees me as a better father than the one she was born to.'

'Hilda considers me to be her master,' Cobalion said to Aurora. 'Maybe I should do the same.'

'Try not to be overly protective like me,' suggested Aurora. 'The only reason I'm the way I am is because I treat my trainer as if she were my own daughter.'

Cobalion smiled as he said, 'So I've noticed.' Cobalion then decided that he would have Hilda riding on his back as well which caught Hilda by surprise.

"Huh, what are you doing Master Cobalion?" Hilda asked the Iron Will Pokémon in surprise.

'I can't have my student being in danger,' answered Cobalion.

Hilda looked to Hilbert as if to say 'Do something, you're my boyfriend.' Hilbert was snickering as he seemed to be enjoying it. Hilda glared at Hilbert that made him stop snickering as he could tell that he was in the doghouse with her.

"Uh, Cobalion, don't you think you're overreacting?" asked Hilbert as he tried to save face and help out a little bit.

"Don't even try Hilbert," Hilda said to her boyfriend. "You're in the doghouse tonight."

"Oh no, not the doghouse," moaned Hilbert.

"And I was even thinking we could do something special tonight too," Hilda told Hilbert in a pouty tone. "It was just gonna be you and me... alone."

"Huh? What were you planning?" Hilbert asked Hilda.

Hilda motioned for her boyfriend to come over to her and she whispered to Hilbert what she had in mind for that night. I noticed Hilbert's eyes widen at what Hilda had in mind for them; he also gritted his teeth in disappointment and snapped his fingers. I had a feeling that I knew what Hilda wanted to do with Hilbert once we stopped for the night but did not say anything.

We continued walking for another two hours and stopped on the side of the road that had a view of the rocky terrain. As we stopped by the road we heard an echoed voice calling out.

'I won't become your slave just so you can take over the world,' said the echo as Virizion and Cobalion recognized the telepathic voice.

"Master Cobalion?" asked Hilda with concern. "Is something wrong?"

"Virizion, what's going on?" asked Ash.

'That sounded like Terrakion,' Virizion said to Cobalion.

'Indeed,' agreed Cobalion. 'We need to help Terrakion.'

Virizion had Ash and I ride on her back while Hilbert was lucky enough to be riding on Cobalion's back with Hilda. Relena had Misty ride with her on Aurora's back and Richie had Cilian on the back of his shiny Raikou he named Thor. All of us rushed to help this Pokémon who was a friend of Cobalion and Virizion. We raced through the pass for 15 minutes until we found a site with a large of people what appeared to be knights. Sadly Victini and I recognized them from Accumula Town and we huffed in frustration at the site of who we called 'Unova's fashion freaks.'

'[sigh] Just what we need,' Victini said to the group, 'the fashions freaks of Unova.'

Cobalion looked at Victini and asked, 'You know those humans?'

'Wish I didn't know them,' answered Victini. 'Those humans call themselves Team Plasma and they took me from my home on Liberty Island.'

"That's horrible to hear," Hilda said to Victini. "No person or Pokémon should be taken away from their home."

'Agreed,' Virizion said as she agreed with Hilda.

'I know, but I wouldn't have met you all of guys or gotten a new home with the Princess of Hoenn,' Victini said cheerfully.

Cobalion and Virizion looked to me in confusion as they hadn't heard of the Hoenn region or heard of my

nickname either.

'Why are you called 'Princess of Hoenn'?' Virizion asked me. 'Are you really a princess?'

I chuckled as I answered, "No, I'm not really a princess. I'm the daughter of a gym leader back in the Hoenn region. That nickname was given to me by a friend and it's stuck ever since."

"You know Ash, I was in a Princess Festival back in Hoenn before taking on the Johto Grand Festival," I said to Ash gently.

"Really?" Ash asked me.

"Oh yeah," I answered with a grin. "I won the tournament too and they named me Princess of Hoenn, the nickname Dawn gave me."

"Will you need a prince, oh Princess of Hoenn?" Ash asked me with a grin.

I laughed at Ash's question and my answer was a kiss on his cheek and whispered, "Yes, I will need a prince. A princess can't be a princess without a prince."

'Can that wait until we find Terrakion?' Virizion asked me and Ash as she slightly looked at us.

"Yeah, sorry about that Virizion," answered Ash as he was blushing from the answer I gave him.

We snuck up to the entrance of the camp and saw not only the Pokémon that was calling out for help but also what looked to be like an elderly man dressed as a sage. He had a red eye piece, a sage outfit that was black and two different shades of gray with a bizarre looking cane that had an emblem or logo on it.

'Why does that guy look familiar to me?' asked Victini as he studied the elderly man.

"I dunno," answered Hilbert, "but we gotta be quiet if we're gonna get to Terrakion."

Victini studied him for another minute and a light bulb seemed to go off.

'That's the crazy old human who ordered those freaks to capture me and put me on display in Accumula Town,' Victini said as he narrowed his eyes. 'Anyone who wasn't going to release their Pokémon was going to be forced to do so. He was gonna have his goons use my power to overpower those who didn't release their Pokémon.'

"That's really awful," said Hilda as she felt sorry for Victini.

"Yes it does seem awful," said the voice of a familiar Pokémon that came from Kanto.

"What the?" asked Ash as he was surprised to see Team Rocket standing there with evil grins on their faces. "What are you three doing here?"

'You know them Ash?' asked Cobalion.

"Yeah, they're Pokémon thieves from my home region in Kanto," explained Ash. "They call themselves Team Rocket."

"Relax, you'll be happy to know that we're not interested in stealing your Pokémon today," James informed us.

"That doesn't put us at ease," I said to Team Rocket.

'Not to mention that I don't trust you three at all,' added Victini.

"Look, we ain't happy about it either but we've recently noticed that those fashion freaks are within the area" began Meowth, commenting that he and his human allies had also noticed Team Plasma earlier. "The only way we'll take them down is to work together for the time being."

"Meowth's right" added Jessie with a scowl on her face. "Of course, we have heard that someone is with them at this very moment… Some man who goes by the name of Ghetsis from what we were told by intelligence but it looks like you already know who he is since that Victini of yours recognizes him."

The others and myself remained silent for a moment, there is no way we could even trust the Rocket trio after all the trouble they've caused previously, however our bigger problem right now is Team Plasma and Ghetsis so there isn't really much of a choice. "Alright, we're partners for now" I told them, though my expression darkened as I continued. "Though you better not get any ideas of turning on us, you are still in an agreement that you made with Relena between us."

"You had to bring that up…" muttered the trio, having almost forgotten about that moment from before and then turned their attention back towards each other.

"Good, now we need to be able to find out why Team Plasma is here and what they are going to do…" Ash told us and the trio; though he wondered how strong Ghetsis is if he is part of that group but had a feeling that it was a bad sign with him involved.

"Ash…" I whispered softly, holding his hand in a reassuring gesture despite knowing what we are up against though it felt strange having to work alongside Jessie, James and Meowth for once against a common foe. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the first time Ash had done so during the course of his journey from what I've heard before. Meanwhile, Manaphy was latched onto my left leg out of distrust towards the trio. Cobalion and Virizion gave the trio a wary glance of mistrust at Team Rocket, but they also glanced at Ash because they felt there was something that Ash had to tell them. Pikachu gave a look to the two Swords of Justice and shook his head.

'_I_'_ll tell you all you need to know once Terrakion is freed to help the Hero of Truth_,' Pikachu told Cobalion and Virizion.

Cobalion and Virizion each gave Pikachu a slight nod accepting Pikachu's suggestion. Jessie, James and Meowth looked at each confused by what Pikachu meant by the Hero of Truth but would save it for later.

During that time, Ghetsis along with a group of Team Plasma grunts have gathered together as he was preparing to make some kind of announcement to everyone within the area and cleared his voice as he spoke.

"Since we have failed to capture two of the three Swords of Justice, our plans we have for capturing Reshiram and Zekrom been hindered considerably," began Ghetsis. "But our plans have not been completely foiled. Regretfully the Pokémon poacher, Rico, we hired was found dead in a river in Pinwheel Forest."

I widened my eyes as I heard that Rico was dead. He tried to poach Raikou and Entei while I was in the Johto region. Thankfully Team Rocket unknowingly helped me thwart his plans to poach both of them. I looked back to Jessie, James and Meowth as they remained silent as Ghetsis continued.

"However, we will still capture both Reshiram and Zekrom," continued Ghetsis. "Even if we don't have all of the Swords of Justice, it will be done. We shall capture all of Unova's legendary Pokémon and spread our malice throughout the world."

There were cheers from Ghetsis's followers as they raised their fists in the air in agreement.

"Not even that foolish brat N will stop us either," added Ghetsis as his followers agreed with him again. "I raised that little fool to become our king and he defies me with his logic that we should live side by side with Pokémon. Tck, that little fool needs to realize that Pokémon are meant for us to rule over them. We of Team Plasma, the true Team Plasma will put down that fool and his followers with him. Only then will we open his eyes to the truth."

I noticed the eyes of both Jessie and James narrowed when Ghetsis mentioned that Pokémon were tools for power. I guess despite being Pokémon thieves, they cared and loved their own Pokémon just as any other trainer. I could still recall the time that they had to part with their Arbok and Weezing and it was very painful for them part with their beloved Pokémon.

"Guess it's a good thing we took care of that stupid poacher Rico," snickered Meowth.

"What did you to him?" I asked Team Rocket.

"Caught him in one of our little pitfalls," giggled Jessie. "We thought that we caught you guys in the pitfall and instead caught Rico."

"Turned out to be a blessing in disguise," added James. "We tied him up, chained him to a boulder and threw him in the river."

My spine shivered at the thought of Rico's death. At least we didn't have to worry about Rico anymore although Team Rocket never mentioned what they did with Rico's Pokémon.

"Now what are we gonna do?" asked Hilbert. "I need to free Terrakion."

"Don't worry about that," James said with a grin as it seemed the trio was hatching a plan, "causing mayhem is our specialty."

"Yeah, right now you guys sneak around and we'll handle things in front," Meowth suggested to us.

"Then you'll need some of your Pokémon," Relena said to Team Rocket as she tossed some Pokéballs to them. "Those are some of your old Pokémon including a couple of Pokémon who are eager to see you again."

Jessie, James and Meowth looked at each other in confusion as they received the Pokéballs from Relena.

"You've gotta create a distraction so we can make sure that Hilbert gets to Terrakion," Relena said to Team Rocket.

The trio gave a slight nod as they made their way to crowd of Team Plasma followers as they waited to ask Relena how she got their old Pokémon back. Relena then had us hang back for a minute go over the rest of the plan.

"Okay, Hilda and Cobalion will hang back here and wait to give back up to whoever needs it," Relena began in a whisper. "That includes Team Rocket as well."

Hilda was a bit uneasy at the thought of having to give someone she hardly knew some backup. She gave a slight nod anyway to the plan and hoped that Team Rocket would not double-cross us.

The trio snuck up behind two unsuspecting lieutenants in the black outfits and beat them senseless and stole their outfits. I cringed at the sight of watching them beat up the two lieutenants but moved to the left side while covering Hilbert as he silently made his way towards Terrakion on the right side. Hilbert had Pikachu helping him Ash and I had help from Virizion and Victini. Relena was concerned and wanted Virizion and Victini to remain with Hilda, but I wasn't going to let Victini remain with Hilda as I knew he was gonna hit on Hilda and try to charm into giving him affection. But I gotta say that Victini was certainly living up to his promise of working hard. Victini made himself invisible as Virizion, Victini and Ash and I were about to begin causing mayhem. Relena and Richie took the left side along with their Pokémon bodyguards and were in position to strike. Once we were in position, Team Rocket began their brand of fireworks and began to cause their level of mayhem. Jessie and James were flooded with relief to see their old Arbok and Weezing were back with them. After their quick reunion, Jessie and James were a rampage against Team Plasma.

"Arbok, use Poison Tail attack!" ordered Jessie as she and Arbok were taking on a Plasma lieutenant and his Liepard.

'_You got it Master,_' acknowledged Arbok as he was happy to be back with Jessie once again

"Arcanine, use Thunder Fang on that Swoobat!" James ordered his Fire-type dog Pokémon.

'_I'm all over it Master James,_' acknowledged Arcanine.

James's Arcanine was quick to dash at the enemy Swoobat and crunched down on the evolved form Woobat. The Swoobat was in a lot of pain as it felt the surge of electrically charged fangs chomping down on him. Many Team Plasma grunts and lieutenants were caught off guard by Team Rocket's sudden attack on their gathering and certainly drew the attention of an undercover International Police officer as he seemed to recognize the trio from before. Ghetsis suddenly was caught off guard by Team Rocket's attack as well as he briefly was distracted by the unprovoked attack. With the brief distraction, Hilbert made his way to the container holding Terrakion and got Terrakion's attention.

'I hope you're not with those... Team Plasma humans," Terrakion said to Hilbert as he was tense at the first sighting of Hilbert.

"What? No way man," Hilbert answered Terrakion in a whisper. "My name is Hilbert Touya, I'm here to help get you outta this cage."

'Hmm... there's something about you that seems familiar,' Terrakion said as he studied Hilbert. 'You wouldn't happen to be related to the Prince who was known as the Hero of Truth, would you?'

"I'm his descendant," answered Hilbert. "My girlfriend is descended from the Hero of Ideals. Therefore, she's the Heroine of Ideals."

'That's really interesting,' Terrakion said to Hilbert before he began playing with controls and getting the attention of Ghetsis.

"Well now, it seems that fortune is favoring me now that the Hero of Truth has come to me," Ghetsis said with an evil grin on his face. "Now I can eliminate one of the threats to for me to take control all Pokémon."

Ghetsis then produced a Pokéball and threw it up.

"Go Hydreigon," said Ghetsis as he was eager to take Hilbert's life.

"Let's go Scrafty," Hilbert said as he released his first Pokémon into battle. "Alright Scrafty, use Low Sweep!"

"Pathetic, use Fire Blast, Hydreigon," Ghetsis calmly countered in a calm yet cruel tone.

The Dark/Dragon Pokémon fired a powerful blast of fire at Hilbert's Dark/Fighting Pokémon and screamed to towards Scrafty.

The place lit up as both sides were in a fierce battle for Terrakion. Our side was certainly mopping up against the Team Plasma grunts and lieutenants. But Team Plasma had numbers working in their favor as wave after wave of grunts came at us. With four hours of battling, we managed to defeat the gathering of Team Plasma forces in the canyon. Hilbert managed to free Terrakion with help from Relena and Aurora running interference and helping him out. Ghetsis gritted his teeth as he saw that Terrakion had escaped his clutches and was now with Hilbert.

"Celebrate your small victory now," snarled Ghetsis, "But I will still get Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem and you won't stop me from achieving full control on all Pokémon of the world." Ghetsis then escaped with a puff of smoke and then to his floating ship. Team Rocket escaped from the scene in order not to spotted by any spies that their boss might've sent to observe the battle. I couldn't really blame them as they had to be careful especially since they didn't want to lose their jobs at Team Rocket. Hilbert then captured Terrakion in a Pokéball after he reunited with Cobalion and Virizion.

'Well, now that we're helping these kids, I guess we gotta help the Hero of Truth and the Heroine of Ideals reunite with their Dragon Pokémon,' Terrakion guessed to Cobalion and Virizion.

'Yes, that would be right,' Virizion said to Terrakion as she gave him a slight nod.

'If that's the case, then why are you with someone who isn't a descendant of either one of the princes?' Terrakion asked Virizion.

'Because he has a special gift that I can sense,' answered Virizion.

'Whaddya mean 'special gift'?' asked a dumbfounded Terrakion.

Cobalion gave a slight nod to Virizion as he said, 'Yes, I too sense his special gift as well. But he has yet to use that gift.'

'The task of teaching him to use gift will fall on me,' said a familiar Pokémon that Ash and I remembered from our time in the Kanto Battle Frontier.

Ash and I saw the Pokémon were shocked to see it here in Unova.

"Lucario?!" Ash and I asked the Pokémon in disbelief.

The blue, yellow and black Pokémon had a big grin on his face as he looked at Ash.

'Hello there Ash, it's good to see you again,'

Virizion looked to Ash and then asked, 'Do you know that Pokémon?'

"Oh yeah," answered Ash. "That Pokémon is from Cameran Palace in the Kanto. Meet Lucario."

'Hello there Lucario,' Cobalion said with a smile on his face. 'I take it that you too a Steel Pokémon.'

'And Fighting as well,' added Lucario.

"Hey Lucario, is Queen Ilene fine with you leaving Cameran Palace?" I asked Lucario. "I mean I guess she was fine when you helped Ash win the Sinnoh League tournament, but doesn't she need you right now?"

'Queen Ilene was alright with me leaving the palace,' answered Lucario. 'She's even expecting her first child too.'

That was certainly news for me... and Ash as he hadn't heard that Queen Ilene got married a year and a half after we left the castle to continue through Kanto for contests and the Battle Frontier. Lucario explained what happened after we left as we walked towards Castellia City. Lucario seemed to have gotten to Queen Ilene when she wasn't in one those moods during her pregnancy. Lucario then told us that he had come to train Ash to use Aura like Sir Aaron did long ago.

Terrakion looked to Victini and Manaphy and asked them, 'Why do you two stay with that May girl? Is something special about her? Does she have some hidden power within her?'

'_May is my mama,_' Manaphy answered Terrakion. '_She's also of the People of the Water as well._'

'May gave me a new home and I felt that she could use my experience and expertise here in Unova,' answered Victini.

'_Brother Victini also came along so he could hit on human females too_,' added Manaphy under his breath.

Victini however heard Manaphy's comment and crashed to the ground after hearing that comment. He then tried using the old Totodile Tears routine that my brother Max used against me many times when I wouldn't give him what he wanted and reached for me to pick him up.

'May!' whined Victini as his eyes were welling up with tears. 'Brother Manaphy is being mean to me.'

I sighed and picked him up and began to wipe the Totodile tears from his face.

"Well, you do hit on any cute girl you see," I said to Victini.

'Am I not helping you out in the Unova region?' Victini asked me as he was still pouting.

"Of course you are my silly little buddy," I answered Victini with a smile and a reassuring peck kiss on his left cheek. "I certainly appreciate it too. We all appreciate your knowledge and expertise."

Victini certainly seemed to calm down after I gave him that peck kiss on his left cheek. Then we made sure that everything was sorted out before we headed to our next destination.

The path to Castellia City was certainly a long one as there three paths to take. Cilan suggested that we take the middle path as it would lead to a castle town carved into a steep canyon area. We agreed to take that path and continued on our way. We were unaware that another Pokémon was following us. [slight chuckle] We seemed to be magnets for rare Pokémon. The only way we knew that a knew another Pokémon was following us was through Lucario when he sensed the new Pokémon following us but let it keep following us for the time being. The group certainly saw a lot of Pokémon along the way to this town built on a canyon. We then made our ascent to the town and halfway there, we spotted a pair of Deerling trying to reach for some Oran berries that were growing on a small branch on the cliff side. Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion had been put in their respective Pokéballs for the time being until we got to the town. Ash went to go help the Deerling that were about to fall off the cliff. I was going to help Ash, but Cilian insisted that it was a bad idea and that Ash could handle the situation. Boy was Cilian wrong as Ash was struggling to keep himself up along with the two Deerling he was carrying. As all hope seemed to be gone, Ash leapt so far that hardly anyone could believe that had leapt so far. Even Lucario was amazed at Ash's sudden burst of energy as he leapt to another cave. Ash told us that he was fine and that he would meet us on the other side of the cave. It made me a bit nervous not be with Ash, but I trusted Ash and gave him a wink and blew him a kiss.

An hour later we met within the castle with Ash. I rushed over and gave him a big Beartic hug. If Iris was there, I know she'd call me a kid... and get slugged by me again. After regrouping with Ash, he got hungry as we could all hear his stomach growl. Fortunately for us Cilian had made macarons for us. Cilian gave us each a couple macarons. I gave one to Victini and Manaphy as they were a little hungry and wanted something to hold them over until lunch. Ash was enjoying his macarons until one of them disappeared when he wasn't looking. I managed to get a brief glimpse of the thief as it appeared to be a Victini with darker tan color fur and red ears instead of the reddish orange ears that my silly little buddy had. After we met up with Ash and got help from a nice guy named Damien, we managed to find the place to get registered for the competition. Relena and Richie asked the tournament organizers if they could enter as a pair instead of individually. When the organizers told them it was okay, another pair of trainers came over and asked to register as a pair for the competition. I had never seen the pair before and they looked friendly to me. The girl had silver hair in two pig tails on the sides on of her hair, silver eyes, wore a yellow tank top with a black stripe running down the front of her tank top and a yellow skirt with black on the pleated end of the skirt. But what I noticed was that she had no shoes on her feet, not even Birkenstock sandals like Relena always wears. In fact she had nothing on her feet. The boy with her had brown hair and eyes, wore a green T-shirt with a white Pokéball drawn on the front, denim shorts that went down to his knees, wore red and white shoes.

Relena took a good look at the two trainers, and brightened up as soon as she recognized them. "Hey! The world is a small place after all!" she exclaimed happily. When she saw that I was looking at her in curiosity, she turned to me and smiled. "Those two are a couple of friends of mine I met on my travels before – come, I'd like you to meet them. They're Jonathan and Abelia, a couple of trainers from the distant continent of Oblivia."

I had already heard of Oblivia before, and I knew it was a rather mysterious land with several legends being narrated from generation to generation… but I knew of no trainer from there, and I knew it was not a place that produced a lot of trainers. Nevertheless, I was curious to get to know those people… and besides, if Relena liked them, they had to be good people.

"Jonathan, Abelia! Imagine meeting you here!" Relena exclaimed, catching the other two trainers' attention as they both turned her way. A couple of radiant smiles appeared on their faces as they rushed towards her.

"Relena! Richie! We're so glad to see you!" the barefooted girl called Abelia exclaimed, grabbing Relena in a warm hug, which Relena reciprocated. The boy named Jonathan and Richie high-fived each other, before they turned our way as well.

"It's really lucky that we met here! So, you're taking part in the competition as well, huh?" Jonathan asked. "And… I can see you've come with some friends of yours as well!"

"Yeah… we're here in Unova for studying the Pokemon living here, and for spending some time together… and we're glad to meet you as well!" Ash answered, shaking Jonathan's hand as he did. "The name is Ash, by the way! Pleased to meet you, Jonathan!"

"Likewise!" the boy answered. "And this lovely little flower here with me is my girlfriend Abelia! Though I see you've got a cute girlfriend too!"

"Thank you… my name is May, by the way!" I answered, holding out my hand to Abelia so she could shake it. She was a little hesitant at first, and it did seem to me she was a little shy. "I'm sure we can be great friends, Abelia!"

"I… would very much like that!" she answered, giving me a small smile. She hesitated a moment, then shook on my hand. "And good luck in the competition! Though Jonathan and I will do our best to win it, of course!"

"Same to you!" Ash stated, giving Jonathan and Abelia a thumbs up. "Hmm… by the way, Abelia, if I'm not too curious… why is it that you're not wearing any shoes at all?"

Abelia looked down at her bare feet, a little puzzled. "Well… no reason at all. I simply like it that way." She answered.

"I can attest to that." Relena answered. "Ever since I met her, I don't remember Abelia having ever worn shoes. Well then… why don't we go somewhere and have something to eat so we can celebrate our meeting! My treat, of course!"

Lucario's ears heard something, which caused me and the others to be surprised as he turned to the left direction as if he heard something. "Is something wrong Lucario?" I asked with a hint of curiosity in mind though we got prepared to release our Pokemon out should it be more trouble from Team Plasma. However the Fighting/Steel-Type started smiling as a girl with brown-hair and donned a lovely sleeveless light blue top with a red skirt, light blue socks, red and white shoes and a white hat with half of a red Pokéball in the center which made us surprised by this sudden arrival.

With her was a Pokemon that appears to be a Clefairy, even more curious on this… I took out my Pokédex to find out more on it. 'Clefairy, the Fairy Pokemon.' It chirped in its female voice. 'It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon.'

"Can I help you?" he asked the mysterious arrival and it caused the girl to be surprised, then after a few seconds a smile formed on her face as she went towards before hugging my raven-haired boyfriend. Needless to say, I was shocked by this as were everyone else with me.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked with a hint of jealously in my voice, wanting to know what was going on here and Ash was caught off-guard as he felt the other girl's hug, which leads to her turning her glance towards me with a serious expression.

"I'm hugging my brother, who I never saw for a long time ever since the day our parents split up… Why shouldn't I do so?" she explained, which in turn shocked everyone present even more, including myself then we all turned our attention towards Ash, wanting an explanation from him about this new girl.

"Ash, is there something you're not telling us?" wondered Richie, waiting for an answer from his friend, who was just as dumbfounded as he didn't seem to know about the girl in general or at least he thought he didn't though to Lucario, it was in a way a blessing as he had a feeling that this would eventually come to be then turned to us. "Lucario, what exactly is going on here?"

'You don't remember do you?'He asked my boyfriend, though it confused Ash even more on the situation first-hand and he's not the only one as me and the others wanted to know about this as well. This made Lucario smile even more as he wasn't finished with what he was saying, 'Perhaps this can refresh your memory, if you don't mind of course Anna.'

"No, not at all…" smiled Anna, though a part of her is hurt that Ash doesn't remember her at all and could only hope that Lucario can help him see who she truly is as I thought she was someone who was in love with Ash that I never knew about, then again it couldn't be helped if I was jealous of someone I never knew before.

Lucario then gestured Ash to hold Anna's hand as he set his own left paw on top of Ash's gloved hand and then channeled some of his Aura power.

'This is will help to remember who this young woman is to you in your life,' Lucario said to Ash.

"She better be your sister you forgot to tell us about," I sternly said to Ash.

"Um... sure thing May," stammered Ash.

As much as I trusted Ash, I didn't trust the girl named Anna, who claimed to be Ash's long lost twin sister. I was curious to know about this girl too and placed my hand under Lucario's paw as Lucario used his Aura power to show Ash what had happened in the past along with a Time Flower on top of his left paw. The Time Flower's bud opened and began to reveal the distant past. The three of us saw Ash's home in Pallet Town and could then hear the cry of Ash's mother giving birth to two babies instead of just Ash. The three of us and Lucario floated into the house and then went up through the ceiling to see Mrs. Ketchum holding two children in her arms and man standing there with a beaming look on his face. Mrs. Ketchum also had a smile on her face as we could see she was very happy to have given birth to both children.

"_What should we name our children_?" asked the black haired man as he looked to Ash's mother as she began to nurse both children.

"_Anna and Ashton,_" answered Mrs, Ketchum. "_But I think our son should just be called... Ash._"

The Time Flower then took us to the next time we were supposed to go to as it seemed that we were taken to only a few days into future and we were outside the house. How ever things seemed to be different. The mood seemed to change as the sky seemed to have gone from a blue sky to a dark gray sky. We could hear Mrs. Ketchum and the man she was apparently married to arguing with each other.

"_I said 'no' Bright and I mean 'no'!_" shouted Mrs. Ketchum as she had baby Ash in her arms. "_I won't leave Pallet Town. I grew up here and I prefer that our children live here where it's safer and healthier for them._"

The man apparently named Bright Noa tried to make a logical argument that leaving Pallet Town would an opportunity of a lifetime for the family and they couldn't pass it up. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ketchum would not budge and informed her husband that she was firm in her decision. The Time Flower then took us to another part in time of Ash and Anna's past. This part of time was when Ash's father and Mrs. Ketchum stood face to face for the last time.

"_I'm sorry this has to be like this,_" Ash's father said as he held Ash's sister in his hands. "_You sure you won't change your mind your mind Delia?_"

Ash's mother only shook her head as she answered her now ex-husband, "I t_old you Bright that I won't leave my hometown of Pallet Town. Also, I've gone back to my last name of Ketchum. My son will have my last name as well._" From there, the father and Ash's sister left Pallet Town never to look back.

The Time Flower than closed then Lucario opened his eyes as he stopped using his Aura powers. I saw that Ash looked to Anna and then hugged her again.

"I guess that's your way of saying that you missed me little brother," Anna said with a grin on her face before looking to me. "Look, I'm sorry if I made you feel uneasy. I mean you no harm and have no intention of taking my little brother away from his girlfriend or even drive a wedge between you two."

Anna had a reassuring smile on her face to reinforce what she said to me. I gave a sigh of relief as Ash let let go of his long lost sister.

'And hear we all thought Ash was an only child,' Victini said as he floated over to me, Ash and Anna. 'But enough about your fiancee, who are the two extremely gorgeous girls that I see?'

I sighed as Victini was at his usual attempts to get affection from pretty girls again. Some things will never change or so I thought.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a sec," began Anna as she heard Victini mention that I was Ash's fiancee, "you're getting married to her, Ash?"

"Yeah, I am getting married to May," Ash answered Anna with great confidence and a smile on his face. "We just haven't decided when and where to get married."

"Meh, you got plenty of time to decide when and where to get married," Anna said with a smile on her face before changing the subject. "How's Mom doing? Is she lonely?"

"Mom's doing great," answered Ash. "She has a Mr. Mime and now a Minccino to help her around the house."

"When did Mom get a Mr. Mime?" asked Anna.

"When the Pokémon Circus came through Pallet Town during my first time traveling around the Kanto region," answered Ash. "Mom thought I was a Mr. Mime and then..."

"It's alright little brother," Anna said as she cut Ash cut off. "I'm glad that Mom's not alone. Daddy's been real busy as of late. I was lucky enough that he saw me off on my Pokémon Journey."

Anna then looked to me and saw Manaphy in my arms and Victini floating towards her.

'Excuse me, but I bet no guy has ever told you that your voice is as sweet and silky as a young maiden in morning dawn with her morning song,' Victini said to Anna as he was trying to hit on Ash's sister

Anna blushed at Victini's flattery as my silly little buddy grabbed her hand gently and kissed it. Before Victini could get an answer or some form of affection from Anna, Ash was quick to grab Victini by his left ear.

'OW! OW! OW! Not my left ear! Not my left ear!' whined Victini as he tried to get away from my fiance. 'I only want affection; I'm not interested in picking up a date.'

"You may be May's Pokémon," began Ash, "but you're not gonna hit on my sister."

Anna had a sweatdrop on her forehead as she watched her brother drag my silly little buddy back to me.

'[ahem] Now to give you the reason why your sister is here,' said Lucario as he brought focus back to the group even with Jonathan and Abelia still with us. 'We're here to train you how to use the power of Aura.'

"M-Me? Learn to use Aura?" asked a confused Ash as this was a a sudden shock to him. "I don't think I can learn Aura."

'You have the same Aura as Sir Aaron,' Lucario replied with a smile on his face. 'Your sister has been able to complete the training. I think you'll be able to complete the training, at least the basics. Your sister will join you and help train you through the rest of the training.'

"I don't think we need someone else joining the group," I interjected to Lucario as I didn't like the idea. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Ash and Anna reunited with each other, but I don't think we can handle someone else joining the group."

"Jonathan and Abelia aren't joining the group," Relena said to me as she stepped in.

"We're only here travel around the Unova Region and then move on to Relena's home region in the Atlantica Islands," added Abelia. "Relena and Richie promised to be our guides throughout their home region."

"And we will honor our deal," said Richie as he stepped in.

Once all of the confusion and whatever travel arrangements were taken care of, all of us headed towards the stage. Along the way, we met a lady with a shiny Pokémon pushing a cart behind her. She was friendly lady and was even amazed to see my Victini on my right shoulder. The lady had a red shirt with a blue denim skirt, a red stocking cap and was in her mid-thirties.

"My, you are certainly lucky to have Victini with you," the lady said to me. "But I'm surprised to see it entering through the barrier with no problem."

'You must have me confused with another Victini, lady," Victini informed the vendor. 'I'm from Liberty Island, not from this village.'

The vendor studied Victini for a moment and noticed a little sky blue bandana around his neck that I gave him as a Christmas present.

"My apology," the vendor said to me and Victini as she slightly bowed to us. "There's thought to be a Victini that lives here in this town. I thought you might've been that Victini."

'It's alright,' replied Victini as he gave a dismissing wave. 'But I seriously doubt that the Victini that lives here can use Telepathy like I can.'

"Oh, you never know," the vendor replied with a slight smile on her face.

The vendor then explained to us about the little charms she was selling on her cart. The charms and other items were shaped like my Victini. Victini was about to critique the work done with the items, but I shook my head to him as to tell him to back off. My silly little buddy got the message and sat on right shoulder as Hilda and Abelia each bought a little charm for themselves. I was going to buy one myself, but Victini insisted that he was the only charm I that needed to win the upcoming tournament. I shrugged my shoulders with both Manaphy and Victini on them and then joined the others as we made it to the stage where other trainers had gathered around and waited for the mayor of the town to announce the start of the tournament.

"Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys and of course Pokémon," began the mayor of the town as he warmly greeted everyone at the stage, "I welcome you to the Eindoak Festival. My name is Mannes, I'm mayor of Eindoak Town."

The mayor then noticed his wife and daughter waving at him and waved back them before continuing.

"I'm pleased to report that our harvest is bountiful," continued Mannes. "So trainers are we having fun?"

Many of us shouted in excitement as we were all having fun indeed.

"Then the competition begin!" the mayor exclaimed with enthusiasm as three Steel-Type Pokémon that looked like gears went towards a machine and began to make it work as it played music and the mayor continued.

"Here are the rules for our Pokémon tournament," Mannes began as he switched to the rules of the tournament. "Trainers will compete in a one-on-one battle with no substitutions allowed. Each of you or, as I was just recently notified, pair were given a necklace. When you lose your battle, you have to return your necklace. Pairs that have registered will only have one person battling on behalf of their partner."

"Excuse me, but are we able to use Pokémon from other regions?" Relena asked as she raised her hand and getting mayor's attention. "Or are we limited to Pokémon from the Unova region?"

"As long as you have Pokémon to compete with, they're more than welcome here in the tournament," the mayor answered Relena. "It would be fascinating to see Pokémon from different regions here in this tournament."

Relena gave a slight nod to the mayor as she was satisfied with his answer. I couldn't blame her for asking that question. She didn't want to be accused of cheating in the tournament by introducing Pokémon that weren't native to Unova.

The mayor cleared his throat as he finished by saying, "If there aren't anymore questions, then let the tournament begin."

Ash had a big grin on his face as he was eager to prove his skill as a trainer. I, myself didn't register for tournament because I didn't want to compete. My mind was still set on the contest in Castellia City and I was trying to prepare for it. Ash tried to get me to change my mind about not competing but I was firm in my decision as I would focus on preparing for the contest.

"You're still gonna watch me, aren't you May?" Ash asked me.

"Of course I am," I answered my fiance cheerfully and then planted a soft and gentle kiss on his lips.

Relena and Richie were certainly doing well in the tournament as they each took down an opponent. However the third opponent was someone that we never expected to see. The opponent was one of the executives from Team Galactic and she was out for blood. Unfortunately, the Galactic executive was disappointed that she wasn't facing Ash. At the time, Ash had begun training with his sister Anna on how to use Aura. The executive was the short tempered red head known as Mars. Relena took on Mars in the presence of the referee and a few people watching the match.

"I want to face that little punk after he humiliated me at the Spear Pillar," roared Mars.

'_Well you've got me, Richie and Relena to contend with instead,_' Relena's special shiny Froslass said to Mars as she popped out of her Heal Ball and glared at Mars.

"So you're still with that little tramp," Mars sassed at Kagura. "No matter, I'll have my revenge against the so-called Champion of Pallet Town and you for defying me."

'_Bring it on Traitor of Amber Island,_' countered Kagura as she motioned for Mars to send out the Pokémon she was going to send out against her.

Mars glared at Kagura and then readied a Pokéball with her chosen Pokémon.

"Go Purrugly, time to show that you're the better Pokémon that worthless Froslass," Mars as she threw up her Pokéball.

'_I'm ready whenever you are Mars,_' replied Purrugly.

A tournament referee was nearby and then rushed over to officiate the match.

"Let the one-on-one battle between..." began the referee before becoming clueless at the sight of Kagura and Purrugly.

"Froslass and Purrugly," I said to the referee as I helped him identify the unfamiliar Pokémon to him.

"Let the one-on-one battle between Froslass and Purrugly begin," the referee said as he dropped both flags to his sides.

"Alright Purrugly, use your Shadow Claw attack," Mars ordered her Pokémon.

'_This will be over before it even began,_' remarked Purrugly as her claws glowed with shadow energy and she charged at Kagura hoping for a quick victory.

'_Tck, you think that's gonna defeat me?_' countered Kagura as she readied her Water Pulse attack as Mars's Purrugly was closing in.

The Purrugly did come in close enough and Kagura then released her Water Pulse attack at Purrugly. Mars's Purrugly was hit at point-blank range and fell back on her back and was dazed from getting hit by the Water Pulse attack.

"Get up you worthless excuse for a Pokémon," snarled Mars.

Purrugly did get up but was confused from the Water Pulse and began attacking herself in confusion. Mars gritted her teeth as she kept trying to give her Pokémon orders to attack Kagura. Eventually Purrugly snapped out of her confusion and charged at Kagura with another Shadow Claw attack. As Purrugly closed in with her Shadow Claw, Kagura felt something odd as she was then enveloped in a gold colored energy. Kagura then felt something weird as her eyes widened as the gold energy surged throughout her body.

"Alright then Kagura, use your Thunderbolt attack on that ugly Purrugly," Relena ordered her Froslass.

Oh, Kagura used her Thunderbolt attack and it was an insanely powerful Thunderbolt attack that briefly showed us the skeletal structure of Purrugly like an x-ray machine. [giggling] It was sure funny and felt like I was watching the second Home Alone movie set in Lilycove City. Purrugly then fell down in defeat with circles in her eyes.

"Purrugly is unable to battle," announced the referee. "Froslass is the winner."

Mars recalled her fallen Pokémon and threw her tournament necklace on the ground next to the referee and stormed off in anger at her failure to get back at my fiance. I stuck my tongue out at Mars when she wasn't looking at me. Ash had been training with his sister Anna and Lucario on how to use Aura from them. The training wasn't starting the way Anna and Lucario wanted it to start. Lucario had thought that Ash, like Anna, would pick up how to use Aura like his skillful sister could do. Unfortunately, training would have to wait for a while as I felt uncomfortable wearing Ash's tournament necklace around my neck so I gave him back his necklace before someone spotted me with Ash's necklace around my neck.

Ash certainly was making progress through the competition, but the Aura training could've been more of a focus for Ash than the competition. Relena and Richie's friends from Oblivia were storming through the competition themselves. Many of the trainers and spectators were thrilled to see Pokémon like ours from different regions. Relena's Pokémon bodyguard and adoptive father, Aurora, got in on the action too. Aurora and the other 'legendary' Pokémon from the Atlantica Islands limited their presence in the competition and allowed Kagura and Michiru to do most of the battling. Latias even took part in a battle during the competition along with Virizion. But most of Ash's time during the competition was spent training on how to use Aura.

"Let's go Tepig," Ash said with enthusiasm as he accepted a challenge from another competitor.

"Go Samurott," countered the challenger as he threw his Pokéball up and revealed the final stage evolved form of Oshawott.

I sighed as I thought that Ash was out of his mind when he chose to use Tepig against Samurott, but I know that Ash usually comes out on top.

"Tepig, use your Ember attack on Samurott," Ash ordered his Fire-type starter.

Tepig unleashed a stream of fire Samurott. Unfortunately, the Ember attack wasn't an effective move on the final stage evolved form of Oshawott. The Samurott just shrugged the Ember attack off like it was nothing and waited for his trainer to give him instructions.

"Samurott, Hydro Pump," ordered the opposing trainer.

The opposing Samurott fired high pressured water at Tepig. Tepig was startled by the incoming Hydro Pump coming at him.

"Dodge it Tepig and use Tackle attack," countered Ash.

Tepig did dodge the Hydro Pump and went in for a Tackle attack only to be swatted by the opposing Samurott's Razor Shell attack and careened into the vendor's cart of cute Victini related items.

Then all of a sudden I spotted the same Victini I saw in the castle, the tan colored Victini that swiped two of Ash's macarons from him. The Victini then touched Ash's Tepig with the same gold colored energy that Kagura was affected by. Tepig's eyes widened and then quickly bounced back into battle as he let out an insanely amount of fire out of his nostrils.

"Are you okay Tepig?" Ash asked his little Fire-type starter.

'_F-fine A-Ash_,' answered Tepig before having light covered his body and envelop him. That light signaled Tepig was evolving into his next stage form. Tepig... heh, Tepig, in his newly evolved form was still covered in the gold colored energy.

"Alright, Tepig evolved into Pignite!" exclaimed Ash as he was happy that Tepig had evolved. "Alright Pignite, use Ember!"

Most of us sighed as we figured that Ash's Pignite wasn't gonna do much damage to the Samurott he was facing. As Pignite released his Ember attack, it was a lot more powerful than before than it usually was and it caused the opposing Samurott to fly back a bit and be knocked out despite the fact it was a Water-type.

"Samurott is unable to battle," announced the referee, "Pignite is the winner."

Ash was certainly happy and and high-fived Pignite for a job well done. The referee collected the necklace from the trainer that Ash defeated and Lucario came to retrieve Ash for the next training session. Ash tossed me his necklace that I caught nervously.

A few hours later Ash came back with a confident grin on his face. As Ash came back, I gladly tossed him his necklace back. My Pokémon were tired after we had no choice but to defend Ash's position in the tournament. When Ash came back, another girl came by and challenged Ash to a battle.

"I never back down from a challenge," Ash said to the girl named Carly. "Let's go Scraggy!"

Carly called out a shiny Hydreigon to face Ash's Scraggy.

"Alright Scraggy use your Headbutt," Ash ordered the Dark/Fighting-type Pokémon.

Scraggy was all too eager to rush at the shiny Hydreigon. Scraggy charged at the Dark/Dragon-type Pokémon but was sent flying towards a tree in the park where were for a moment it looked like Scraggy was finished, but I slightly noticed that Carly was looking to see if something would happen. I looked to Scraggy only to see the same tan-colored Victini I thought I saw in the castle giving Scraggy the same gold colored energy that Kagura and Pignite was given. Scraggy's eyes widened as he received the gold colored energy from the tan-colored Victini and his eyes were wide as well.

"Alright Scraggy," Ash said with enthusiasm, "use Headbutt one more time!"

Scraggy rocketed up into the sky and then crashed down on to Hydreigon knocking him out in one attack. Carly seemed to sigh but accepted the loss nonetheless as she handed her necklace to the referee. Then a struggle would begin.

Victini: Sparky would like to extend his thanks to Lily Nadesico and EmperorDraco7 for their help in writing this wonderfully written chapter. Although I could've shined a little... OW! [grabbed by Anna] Not my left ear again!


	16. Chapter 14 part 2

Okay, this time I'm asking Hilda to do the...

Victini: Sorry Sparky, but I beat Hilda this time. [grabbed by Hilda on his left ear] OW! Not the left ear again! Not the left ear again! Let go, that hurts!

Hilda : Sparky wants me to do the disclaimer this time. [ahem] Sparky does not own the characters, story elements or the storyline of the Pokémon anime. He's just borrowing them for this story.

Victini: [rubbing left ear] I hate having my left ear pulled. Sparky is also asking that readers please leave a review if they can. He does appreciate all of the likes and followings.

Me: Thanks Hilda and Victini

14: First Encounters and the Sword of the Veil part 2

After winning his battle, I went up to Ash and kissed him which slightly surprised Carly.

"Well done Ash," I said to my fiance as I still had an arm wrapped around his waist. "You're sure getting stronger. So are your Pokémon."

Before Ash could say anything, Latias popped out of her Cherish Ball, rubbed her cheek on Ash's right cheek and asked with Totodile tears in her eyes, '_Why haven't you called on my help yet? Don't you want my help?_'

"Of course I want your help Latias," Ash assured the Eon Pokémon. "I just haven't found the perfect time to call on you."

'_Fine, but I'm not going back into my Cherish Ball until you honor your word,_' said Latias as she transformed into her favorite form as her other friend Bianca from Altimore. [sigh] Latias then latched on Ash's left arm which made me feel uncomfortable

"Uh alright, I'm not gonna stop you," Ash said with a sweatdrop on his head and nervously laughing as Latias was latched on his left arm.

'_Man, Sister Latias seems real clingy to Papa,_' observed Manaphy as he started to use Victini's habit of adding either 'Brother' or 'Sister' before the name of our Pokémon.

'I agree with you Brother Manaphy,' Victini whispered to Manaphy

Latias turned and glared at Victini and Manaphy as she shot back, '_What was that? You've got a problem with me being clingy?_'

'I-I didn't say anything Sister Latias,' Victini informed Latias.

'_I-I didn't say anything either Sister Latias,_' agreed Manaphy as both Pokémon on my shoulders had sweatdrops on their foreheads.

Latias gave both of my favorite Pokémon a glare that told them not to make any smart remarks. As for Carly, she approached Ash as he was recalling Scraggy.

"That was the work of Victini," Carly said bluntly to Ash.

'Huh, what are you talking about?' asked a dumbfounded Victini. 'I didn't do a thing. I've been on May's shoulder the whole time.'

Carly smiled at my furry little buddy and replied to him, "I know. I saw you sitting on your trainer's shoulder; so I know it wasn't you."

"How do you know it was Victini?" Ash asked Carly.

"It was a different Victini," answered Carly. "I got a good look at it. I think it had tan fur and scarlet red pointy ears, much like yours."

'Tan fur and scarlet red pointy ears,' repeated Victini. 'Hmm... sounds like my type of female Victini.'

"Huh? A female Victini?" I asked Victini in confusion. "You mean there are female Victini as well?"

'Of course,' Victini answered proudly. 'We Victinis can only reproduce with each other and no other Pokémon. I'm sure that it's the same thing for Aurora as well.'

Victini looked to my best friend's Suicune as he and Relena joined up with the group as did Abelia and Jonathan.

'Am I right... Aurora?' Victini asked Relena's Suicune.

'Yes, that's right,' Aurora answered Victini. 'Thor and Frost have the same predicament.'

Victini a gave a nod to Aurora and then closed his ears and let his ears twitch to try and hear this female Victini. [Sigh] Ash finally figured out this female Victini was the one who took two macarons from him, apparently gave him a couple of visions and made him jump from the dangerous ledge.

"Hey Victini, why don't you show yourself?" Ash called out to the female Victini.

'_Please come out,_' replied Pikachu as he too wanted to see the female Victini.

"I still some macarons," Cilan said as he produced his small container of his delicious macarons and opened it so Ash could get a couple macarons to bribe the female Victini out of hiding.

"Victini, I have some more macarons," Ash announced to the female Victini.

'_More?!_' asked a very eager female Victini as she snatched a macaron from Ash's hand and began to munch on it. '_Mhmm. Yum, yum, yummy._'

The female Victini then became visible for everyone to see. Jonathan and Abelia were certainly surprised to see the difference with my Victini and the female Victini that made itself visible as she landed gently on a see-saw. She then disappeared as she appeared to be quite shy us.

"Whoa, I can see a big difference with both May's Victini and that female," remarked Abelia. "That female has tan fur and scarlet red ears while May's Victini has cream colored fur and red orange ears."

My Victini, [sigh] my silly little buddy decided that right then and there was a good time and floated over to Abelia and he was trying his usual approach to getting affection. But I am surprised that he wasn't using those cheesy pickup lines that Brock used when trying to get pretty girls to like him.

'I bet no one guy has ever told you that your silver hair shimmers like the purest silver in moonlight,' Victini said to Abelia as he gently held her hand and got her to blush.

Jonathan saw that my silly little buddy was trying to get affection from his girlfriend and before he could take action, one of Abelia's Pokémon took action and popped out his Pokéball. A Scizor noticed my Victini trying to get affection from Abelia and then grabbed Victini by his left ear and yanked him away.

'OW! Why do people and Pokémon grab me by my left ear?!' moaned Victini.

'_I didn't know that people and other Pokémon grab you by your left ear little Fire-type,_' answered Scizor. '_I just don't want you trying to ask my trainer out on a date._'

'Wha?! A date?' asked my dumbfounded Victini. 'I don't wanna ask your trainer out on a date. I just want some affection. Is that too much to ask for?'

'_Then you need to ask your trainer for affection, not Miss Abelia,_' countered Scizor before letting go of Victini's left ear.

Ash ignored the silliness that Victini tried to pull and then offered the other macaron to the female Victini and the female reappeared slowly and cautiously approached Ash to get the pink macaron in Ash's hand.

'_For me?_' asked the female Victini carefully.

'_Take it friend!_' Pikachu enthusiastically exclaimed to the female Victini.

'_Yikes,_' cried the female Victini before disappearing.

Ash then opened his mouth and made it look like he was gonna eat the macaron and got the female Victini reappear in a panic.

'_Wait, please don't eat it,_' pleaded the female Victini.

Ash gave a slight grin to the female Victini before handing the macaron to the female Victini. The female Victini was still a bit hesitant before seeing Ash giving her a slight nod and still holding the pink macaron. The female Victini then took the macaron nibbled on it happily and enjoying the sweet taste of the macaron.

"To think Victini appeared for a macaron," Carly said in amazement as we watched the female Victini eating the macaron.

'Trust me, I'd appear for more than just food,' my Victini informed Carly.

'_Yeah, we all know you'd appear for a pretty girl and any affection she gives, Brother Victini,_' Pikachu said to Victini as he rolled his eyes and caught on to Victini's habit of calling his fellow Pokémon either 'Brother' or 'Sister.'

'_DELICIOUS!_' the female Victini exclaimed in joy as she had savored every bite.

"Do you like it?" asked Ash.

'_Yes, very delicious,_' the female Victini answered Ash as she gave the victory sign as well.

As everyone was trying to interact with the female Victini, Abelia noticed that Hilda looked as if she was shivering from being cold.

"Hey, are you alright?" Abelia asked Hilda.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," answered Hilda. "Thought something was making me feel cold."

Abelia studied Hilda for a minute and looked at her quizzically for a couple minutes and then just shrugged her shoulders as she joined the rest of the group. Everyone was very happy to meet the female Victini especially my silly little buddy as he gently took the female Victini's hand and kissed it like a real gentleman.

'Hello there and might I say that your eyes sparkle like priceless gems,' Victini began in a smooth and tender voice.

'_It sounds nice, um... your compliment about my eyes,_' began the female Victini as she blushed, '_but I don't know what you want from me. Are you asking for affection like you've been asking those young human females?_'

"You know something Victini?" Relena began to ask the female Victini as she walked towards the tan-colored Victini. "I think you need a name."

'_A name?_' the female Victini asked in confusion. '_But I don't think that I need a name. I'm happy being called just Victini._'

"You wouldn't like having a name that means 'victorious beauty'?" Relena asked the tan colored Victini.

'_Eh, a name that means victorious beauty?_' the female Victini asked as she perked her ears up and then began to consider the proposition. '_Hmm... maybe that would be a nice name to have. What kind of name means victorious beauty?_'

"The name Katsumi," answered Relena, much to the amazement of Carly.

"Wow, she talks to Pokémon like she can understand them," Carly said to us.

'She can understand Pokémon as if they were humans,' Aurora informed Carly. 'People and Pokémon in our home region understand and can communicate with each other as if they were neighbors.'

"Wow," Carly replied in amazement.

"That's why we're going to Relena and Richie's home region," Abelia told Carly.

The female Victini wasn't paying attention Carly and her amazement of Relena's ability to speak and understand Pokémon as she said, '_Katsumi... sounds like a name I could get used to being called._

The female Victini... I'm sorry, I meant to say Katsumi, then asked, '_Now this name, Katsumi, you said it means 'victorious beauty,' right?_'

"That's right," answered Relena with a slight nod. "And I think it's a fitting name for you. It would also help to prevent any confusion between you and May's Victini."

'_Huh? You mean that the male Victini is owned by a human?_' asked Katsumi.

"Oh yes," answered Relena. "That flirty little male Victini belongs to one of my best friends."

'_I'm surprised that Brother Victini doesn't use the cheesy pick-up lines that our other human friend Brock uses,_' commented Pikachu as Manaphy was in agreement with him.

'_He seems to make observations about the girls and then comes up with the pick up lines,_' added Manaphy. '_Where did he learn to make those pick up lines?_'

'That's for me to know and you to find out, my brothers,' answered Victini as he had heard Pikachu and Manaphy talk among themselves.

Katsumi was eager to play with us and our Pokémon so we went to find a park in the town and battled other trainers along the way. Lucario certainly wanted Ash to continue his training with Aura and Anna joined Lucario in insisting that he continue training and not battle so much. [sigh] I would've thought that Anna would know not to tell her younger brother not to battle so much. Guess she needed to have a lot more time with her brother because Ash seemed to ignore Lucario and his older sister and kept battling until we got close to something that Katsumi sensed was getting close and eventually stopped when she spotted two strange looking pillars. Ash came back got hold of Katsumi and tried to get her past the pillars. Katsumi then became alarmed by this.

'_Wait, please don't try to make me go across those pillars,_' pleaded Katsumi as she tried to wriggle out of Ash's grasp.

We all were about to go a nearby park until Katsumi collided with an invisible barrier that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Victini had gotten off my shoulder and went to Katsumi's side as she rubbed her head.

'Are you alright Katsumi?' asked Victini as he held her right hand tenderly and trying to be concerned.

Katsumi then pulled her right hand away from Victini and floated away shouting at us, '_Go away you... you selfish affection grubbing scum! All of you should just LEAVE ME ALONE!_' The female Victini, Katsumi then floated away towards the castle.

"A female Victini?" Carly's mother asked us as Carly described Katsumi to the her mother. "I never thought that there would be two different kinds of Victini."

Victini remained silent as he had nothing to say. Manaphy looked to Victini and was amazed that Victini was silent. Normally Victini was abuzz with facts about the Unova region and Pokémon that we encountered, but since Katsumi called him an affection grubbing scum his face was downcast. All of us walked back to the castle where we met up with with the mayor of the town and the nice man who helped us enter the town, Damon was his name if I recall correctly. While Carly explained what was going on with Katsumi, Lucario and Anna took Ash away from the group and headed towards an area of the castle grounds to do more training in the art of Aura. Ash wasn't too happy about it, but once again, I had his necklace dumped on me and I was really hoping that no other trainers would come to challenge me in the tournament. Ash was gone for two and a half hours with his Aura training. When he came back, he had a confident smile on his face. If I knew my fiance, that meant that he had accomplished something good.

"Are you done with your training?" I asked Ash.

"Almost done," Ash answered with a slight grin. "Anna and Lucario want me to go through the lessons before I move on to the final lesson."

"If you'd like, you and you're friends can stay in the castle," Damon said to us with a smile on his face. "If I'm not mistaken the Pokémon tournament goes on for two days, right?" Damon asked the mayor, who was standing behind him.

"Why yes it is going on tomorrow," answered the Mayor. "Please feel free to stay in the castle during the tournament."

"Thank you very much," I said to the Mayor as I slightly bowed to him before I looked to the rest of the group.

The group gave a slight nod as they were eager to sleep in a bed instead of outside. So we accepted the offer to stay at the castle. We put our belongings in the rooms that we were staying in and let our Pokémon out so they could stretch and exercise in the castle courtyard. Terrakion, Virizion and Cobalion were let out of there Pokéballs after their trainers forgot to let out. The three Swords of Justice were glad to be out of their Pokéballs. They were like Pikachu and didn't like Pokéballs one bit but they would stay in a Pokéball if they had to do so.

'It's nice to get out that Pokéball,' commented Terrakion.

'Indeed,' agreed Cobalion.

'I was starting to feel cramped in there and I certainly don't want any cramps,' added Virizion.

'_Now you know why I hate being in Pokéballs all the time,_' Pikachu said to the Swords of Justice.

The Swords of Justice looked at Pikachu and then Cobalion cleared his throat as he said, 'You owe us an explanation.'

'Yes, you said you were going to explain your history with those Pokémon thieves from the group you called Team Rocket,' added Virizion. 'Where are they from and what do they plan to do here Unova?'

'_They're from Ash's and my home region of Kanto,_' began Pikachu. '_They're leader is an evil man by the name of Giovanni. According to our friend Relena, he has many businesses that appear to that helpful on the surface._'

'Well I guess sometimes there are some things that are more than meets the eye, right?' Terrakion asked Pikachu.

Pikachu gave a slight nod as he continued, '_Team Rocket mostly steals Pokémon from trainers wherever they can set up branch of Team Rocket in. Especially here in Unova._'

'Great, it's bad enough we have to deal with those Team Plasma humans,' moaned Terrakion, 'now we have to deal with Pokémon thieves from Pikachu's home region.'

'_Well it's not like we brought them with us from Kanto,_' Pikachu shot back defensively. '_They're a lot smarter too, so you shouldn't underestimate them either. They use any kind of machine or alter current devices for their evil purposes._'

Pikachu went into detail in the constant clashes with Team Rocket starting when they first encountered Team Rocket for the first time in Viridian City and detailing the horrible battles to save Mewtwo, the death of Latias's sibling Latios in Altimore and Pikachu bitter was as he told it to the Swords of Justice. The three Legendary Pokémon could certainly sense Pikachu's bitterness as he recounted that story. Pikachu then continued as he recounted the many attempts to steal him from Ash just because he was very powerful Pokémon.

'A Pokémon only becomes powerful through a human as they develop a special bond with each other and sometimes even their Pokémon companions,' remarked Virizion.

'Yeah,' Terrakion agreed with a smirk on his face.

'_Um... about that..._' began Pikachu as he scratched the back of his head and had a sweatdrop on his forehead, '_I was actually hooked up to a machine when I was taken to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City. I think the machine amplified my powers by mistake. Team Rocket thinks that the power I have is my own natural power and they've been after me ever since._'

'Then why have you not told them the truth?' asked Cobalion. 'Surely they would understand. Despite being thieves, they do show some decency and compassion towards their own Pokémon.'

'R_egretfully, Cobalion, the only love they have is for each other, their Pokémon and the group they work for,_' Pikachu answered Cobalion, not knowing that Team Rocket was listening to him talking to the Swords of Justice about them and the organization they worked for.

'That seems a bit judgmental, don't you think Pikachu?' asked Virizion. 'I do not condone their choice to become Pokémon thieves, but I did notice that they do have some form of compassion towards Pokémon.'

'_You'll have to forgive me Sister Virizion,_' began Pikachu as he turned his back to the female Sword of Justice, '_but I stand by my observations of the trio whose been pursuing me ever since Viridian City. _

'_I'll admit that I've seen them a few times showing some form of compassion towards Pokémon besides their own,_' finished Pikachu, '_but it will not wipe away the numerous schemes they've hatched in the past to steal Pokémon for their boss_.'

Virizion began to try and approach Pikachu, but Cobalion stopped her and shook his head no.

'Pikachu is justified to have his opinion about those three who aided us in freeing Terrakion,' Cobalion said to Virizion in a cool and calm manner. 'Who are we to try and change his mind.'

"Maybe you can't change his mind," began Jessie.

"But it doesn't mean we can't have a little chat with our dear little Pikachu friend," finished Meowth with a grin on his face.

I was about to call Ash and Relena that Team Rocket was in the castle as I saw them approaching Pikachu until I said sternly, "You better not be trying to steal Pikachu again."

"Yeah, yeah, we know about the little agreement still in place," James replied coolly. "We just wanna have a little chat with Pikachu and clear some things up."

Virizion narrowed her eyes and took a combat stance ready to use her Sacred Sword until Meowth rolled his and huffed as he said, "We said that we're not here to steal any Pokémon. Besides, all bets aren't off yet."

"Meowth's right," agreed Jessie. "Besides we may be Pokémon thieves, but we honor our agreements."

An hour later Pikachu came back silent for the moment and the trio left the castle as they promised without stealing Pikachu. Pikachu then looked to see that Ash was looking for the female Victini, Katsumi to apologize to her for what happened at the edge of the barrier. Misty had insisted to Ash that he give her time to cool down. But of course didn't listen and neither Pikachu as he too wanted to play with Katsumi and asked some of the local Pokémon that lived on the castle grounds.

'_Katsumi, is that what the female Victini is now called?_' a female Purrloin asked as Pikachu asked her where Katsumi was at. '_Come follow us; she's close by._'

Pikachu and our other Pokémon followed the resident Pokémon to a cool garden with pond with lily pads in the pond with a windmill drawing water into pond.

'_Katsumi,_' the female Purrloin called out to the female Victini. '_Visitors are here._'

'_Oh Victini!_' exclaimed a Drilbur.

For a moment nothing happened until one of the lily pads moved much to everyone's amazement and then Katsumi revealed herself to everyone.

"Hey Katsumi," Ash called out to the female Victory Pokémon.

'_Katsumi,_' Pikachu called out to Katsumi as well.

'_Go away,_' Katsumi said to us before hopping to another lily pad, disappearing and hitting her head on a bucket. '_Ow! Not again, that's the third time I hit my head on something while I was invisible today._'

"See?" Carly asked her mother and stepfather, the mayor. "I told you Victini was real."

'Of course I'm real,' my Victini said to Carly. 'I'm not afraid to hide.'

"I'm sure that's true," Carly's mother said to Victini. "You're certainly a Pokémon full of energy."

Damon looked to my Victini on my shoulder and to Katsumi as he studied both of them. Victini's ears twitched as he turned to see Damon studying him and then floated over to him.

'I dunno if you have some plan cooked up and I'm supposed to be a part of it,' Victini began sternly, 'but I will be kept out of it, got it bucko?'

"Um... sure thing," stammered Damon as he held his hands up in surrender

As my little furry companion was speaking with Damon, Ash had gone over to try and talk to Katsumi with me and Manaphy following him. When Ash was going to reach out for Katsumi, he tripped on the bucket that Katsumi had hit her head on a minute ago. As Ash was falling into the pond, Katsumi had grabbed the hood of his shirt was pulling him back with all her might.

'_I... gotcha,_' Katsumi said as she was pulling Ash back but had to let go and drop Ash in the pond.

For a moment, even I was concerned that Ash was hurt and rushed over to see if he was okay.

"Come on Ash, be alright man," Hilbert as he was worried that Ash might be hurt.

Katsumi floated down to check on Ash as he sat up, still in the pond.

'_Are alright, young human?_' Katsumi asked Ash.

Katsumi got no reply, but some water being splashed in her face playfully by Ash. I sighed in relief that Ash was alright and himself as always. Manaphy jumped into the pond to join the fun.

Once Katsumi was herself once again and my beloved fiance was dry and wearing his cute Hoenn outfit once again, all of us humans went into library while our Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs and playing with the other Pokémon. The only Pokémon in the library with us were Relena's adoptive 'father' Aurora and Hilda's 'master' Cobalion.

"You see, Wonitta and I are descendants from a tribe called the People of the Veil," explained Mannes.

"The People of the Veil?" asked Ash in confusion.

"They're the people mentioned in the castle legend," Cilan explained to Ash.

"It's much like I'm a descendant from the People of the Water," I added to Ash as he knew I was a descendant of the People of the Water.

Jonathan and Abelia however were both confused by what was being said and so we had to explain to the couple from the Oblivia region what the two groups of people were. They finally understood what we were talking about and then were interested to hear the tale about Katsumi's past.

"Gather around and we'll tell you the story of Victini... I mean Katsumi and the People of the Veil," Wonitta replied as her husband set a large book on his desk.

The two used the large book to aid in their storytelling. Hilda and Hilbert paid special attention to the story as it seemed as though they see their ancient ancestors with their dragons at their side. Mannes and Wonitta explained that over time both princes, Hilda and Hilbert's ancestors, began to quarrel with each other causing long struggle and a disturbance within the Dragon Force. Both princes were struck with grief as they saw that both of their Dragon Pokémon with many injuries and being forced to turn into two different stones and had to bury them in separate places within the Valley of the Veil. The leader for the Kingdom of the Veil and Katsumi apparently used their combined power to move the castle, that was built like a sword to where it currently sits now and created the valley below the canyon. Apparently, once the castle was set in it's place, the king was dying and couldn't remove the Barrier of Protection so Katsumi could be free to go wherever she wanted to go because his power was spent. [sigh] I felt sorry for Katsumi because she was trapped here for over a thousand years. During the story, I noticed that Damon occasionally eyed Katsumi as if he had something planned for her.

Once the story was finished, Relena went to her backpack and produced two specially made Pokéballs and gave them to Jonathan and Abelia as she wanted to give them each a special gift from her region. Jonathan and Abelia were nervous about accepting gifts from Relena as they felt they had nothing valuable to give her in return... well Jonathan anyway didn't have anything to give Relena. Abelia just gave her a grin as she had something to give Relena in return for the specially made Pokéballs. She gave her a shopping bag as she said, "I figured you might something special for us. What's in the shopping bag is from Jonathan and I for being our friend and a thank you for allowing us to go visit your home region later. We met your sister, Jessica Kaiou, in Nimbassa City and she and her shiny Tyranitar, Argon, were working with a really popular fashion model there."

"Eh, you met Jess and Argon?" Relena asked Abelia as she was surprised to here that Abelia and Jonathan had met her one of many siblings.

"Oh yeah," Jonathan answered with grimace on his face. "But she looked like an evil genius when she saw the clothes we were wearing. Paper was flying everywhere, she was cackling like an evil maniac and she makes you feel like you're being tortured."

"Oh, stop being such a baby, Jonathan," Abelia said to her boyfriend as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Despite that, she was very nice and designed a few outfits for us and designed what's in the shopping bag."

Relena sighed and shook her with a slight smile on her face as she replied, "Count on Jess to unleash her inner Tim Gunn. Don't see why she likes that guy."

"Oh come on, let's see what you got," insisted Hilda. "I wanna see what you got from your sister."

"Yeah, me too," Carly agreed eager to see what Relena got from her fashion designer.

Relena opened the shopping bag to find that her sister made her an emerald green dress with yellow and and aqua blue hibiscus print and rather loose aqua blue belt to go with the dress without a jacket to go with it.

"Oh that's really nice," Relena said as she really liked the new dress her sister had designed and made for her. "Now to see what else is in here from Jess."

Relena dove into the bag and pulled out a new one piece swimsuit. This one pink with cream colored stripes running along the sides and there wasn't a skirt on it like most of her other swimsuits she wore. The swimsuit also appeared to be one of those that were form-fitting like what most athletes would wear at swimming competitions. Hilda however had a confused look on her face as she asked, "Why not just wear a two piece swimsuit or a bikini? There aren't many girls that wear one piece swimsuits, am I right?"

Instead of getting a nod of agreement from me and Abelia, we glared at her which caused her to have a sweatdrop on the back of her head as then asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Relena hates all two piece swimsuits, even bikinis," I answered Hilda.

"That's just crazy," Hilda replied, still having a sweatdrop on the back of her forehead.

"I hate them too," Abelia added with a stern look on her face. "I prefer form-fitting one piece swimsuits over two piece swimsuits and bikinis."

"And before you ask, they're too revealing and they allow most perverts to give the girl or woman unwarranted attention," Relena informed Hilda.

'Oh my god she's in head,' thought Hilda, 'That's alright, use it to your advantage. You want to try and wear a bikini for the heck of it.'

"You couldn't pay me a million Pokédollars to get me to wear a bikini and like it," snapped Relena as she glared at Hilda.

Hilda then screamed in her mind and gave a sigh in defeat as she decided not to press the issue any further as she finally guessed that she couldn't change Relena's mind.

I sighed as I told her, "You can't change her mind about swimwear. That's just how she is. She won't wear bikinis no matter how much you try to change her mind."

"Oh yeah," agreed Abelia. "It's hard to change her mind on almost anything."

"Be glad you didn't say something stupid like 'Almost all the other girls our age are wearing them'," I said to Hilda.

"Eh, why do you say that?" Hilda asked me.

"Because you'd more than likely get hurt for saying that," Abelia answered for me. "May and I seem to know Relena very well."

"Ugh, it sounds more like she's aggressive on the subject," Hilda said to herself.

Once evening started to set in at Eindoak Town, we all settled into our rooms for the night. We were certainly grateful to the mayor for allowing us to stay in the castle for the night instead of at the Pokémon Center. However certain events began to unfold Hilda disappeared along with Abelia and her master Cobalion and Ash was whisked away by Anna and Lucario to complete the Aura training. I certainly felt alone as even my little Victini was with Katsumi trying get affection from her as well as get to know her. [Giggling] Just kidding, I had Manaphy with me as he was like a toddler who didn't want their mother to leave them alone for any reason. I gave my little Manaphy the love and affection I always give him.

"Love... you... Mama," Manaphy said to me as he stuttered and was still trying to learn how speak like a human.

I had been teaching trying to teach him simple words and phrases like 'love you' and other small phrases.

Hilda's POV

Hidden cave two miles east of Eindoak Town

"Hilda are you sure that we should be here?" asked Abelia as I had asked for help after getting weird vision.

"I dunno," I answered Abelia. "But ever since we got to Eindoak Town, I've been getting shivers run up and down my spine and I just saw some weird vision as I was trying to sleep with Hilbert."

Abelia looked at me with shock as she thought Hilbert and I had... you know, that. I was quick to clarify that we share the same bed and sleeping bag during our journey. As for the other thing, Hilbert was still in the dog house for snickering when I tried to get him to agree with me. Abelia apparently sighed in relief and apologized for misunderstanding what I had told her. Abelia and I ventured deep into the cave and got to a certain point where it looked as though there was no other way down into the deep recess of the cave. I then had a brief flash of where to go next and a path was revealed to me. So I grabbed Abelia's hand and got her to follow me on the path as she also saw the path that we were suppose to take in going deeper down into the cave.

We followed the path for an hour and reached the bottom of the cave where we found what appeared to be a dark colored stone. As I got near the dark-colored stone, electric energy then sprang from the the stone.

'Only the one who has will to share their ideals is worthy to be down here,' said voice telepathically in mine and Abelia's minds. 'But I will not so easily go with just anyone, I will only go with the one who is the descendant of the Prince of Ideals.'

I touched the dark colored stone and it came to life was then engulfed in electric energy and a bright light for a couple minutes. Master Cobalion had remained silent the whole time as he gave Abelia and I a ride to the cave I saw in my vision. Once the bright light had vanished, a black dragon Pokémon that looked like it had an electric generator as a tail. Abelia, Master Cobalion and I were in awe of the legendary Dragon Pokémon, Zekrom. I had seen Zekrom in dreams when I was younger, but I never thought that I'd actually get to see him in person. It was certainly a real honor but it felt that I had a serious task ahead of me and in front of me as well. The legendary Dragon/Electric Pokémon looked down to see me, Master Cobalion and Abelia as well.

'Who are you?' Zekrom demanded to the three of us. 'Surely one of you two humans is descended from the Prince of Ideals.'

"It's not me," Abelia said to Zekrom. "I'm not even from Unova. I'm from the Oblivia region."

Zekrom then looked to me as he noticed that I had Master Cobalion at my side.

'If you have one of the Swords of Justice at your side, then you must be descended from one of the two Princes of the Veil,' observed Zekrom. 'Tell me young human child, what is your name?'

"Hilda," I answered as I stammered being in the presence of the mighty Zekrom. "Hilda Touko of Nuvema Town.'

Zekrom then studied me for a moment as to study me for any similarities to his last master. It wasn't easy to stand in the presence of Zekrom as many in Unova fear and respect Zekrom's awful and majestic power.

Abelia took out her Pokédex in order to find out what kind of Pokemon that Zekrom truly is_. Zekrom, the Deep Black Pokemon._ chirped Abelia's Pokédex. _This Pokemon appears in legends and in its tails, it has a giant generator that create electricity._

'Hmm... you don't look like a descendant of the Prince of Ideals,' observed Zekrom with a slight growl. 'But if you are his descendant, then you must battle me and prove that you are his descendant and not an imposture. The Prince of Ideals was a mighty warrior, if you are his descendant, then surely you too are a mighty warrior like him as well.'

"I dunno if I'm a mighty warrior like my ancestor," I said to Zekrom. "But I will prove that I am his descendant."

Before Zekrom could reply, those stupid morons from Team Plasma showed up. Before I could pull out a Pokéball, Abelia turned her back to me and said with a grin, "I dunno who those are, but I'll keep them off your back while you battle Zekrom."

"They're from Team Plasma and they're nothing to sneeze against," I cautioned Abelia as she reached for the specially made Pokéball Relena gave her.

"Stand aside, you children have no business trying to wield Zekrom's power," said one of the Team Plasma lieutenants. "Only Lord Ghetsis can wield it's power and the power of Reshiram. You children have no business trying to wield either Dragon Pokémon's power or for that matter, the powers of the Swords Of Justice."

"I don't think you understand that it's the Pokémon that choose whom they desire to be with," lashed back Abelia. "So don't think that this Ghetsis guy is getting to Zekrom."

two of the Team Plasma grunts dressed like white knights then threw a Pokéball each as they were going try and overwhelm Abelia with numbers. One grunt had a Trubbish and the other one had a Seviper. Abelia just grinned as grabbed another Pokéball and called out as she threw both Pokéballs, "Go Scizor and Pokémon."

One Pokémon had a red metallic body with crab-like claws and two-lobed wings that looked like they were retractable. The other Pokémon had a red metal body like the Scizor, but had silver eyes and a cannon on it's back. Before going into battle with Zekrom, I scanned both Pokémon looking at the odd odd red Pokémon first.

'Genesect, the Paleozoic Pokémon,' chirped my Pokédex. 'It is thought that this was one of the most fearsome hunters 300 million years ago. It is also currently believed that the criminal organization from the Unova region have altered this Pokémon's shape and true form their purposes until one group of escaped to locations unknown.'

'_I may have been resurrected and altered by Team Plasma young Heroine of Ideals,_' began the shiny Genesect, '_but I have a sense of honor and I do desire payback against Team Plasma for what they've done to me and my kin._

The shiny Genesect then looked to Abelia and finished as it replied, '_I shall be your companion, ally and friend since you are a friend to all Bug Pokémon tamer._'

Abelia then gave a slight as she said to the shiny Paleozoic Pokémon, "I thank you for your help and will gladly accept it. Now let's take down these Team Plasma guys."

'_Ready Mistress Abelia,_' said the Scizor as it readied itself for battle.

'_I too am ready for battle,_' said the shiny Genesect as it stood ready for battle.

"Just because you have one of our Genesects doesn't mean that you're going to win against against us," snarled Plasma lieutenants.

Abelia then turned to me with a smile and said, "Go ahead and battle Zekrom. Leave Team Plasma to me and my Bug Pokémon; we'll hold them back for you."

I gave Abelia a slight nod and looked to Master Cobalion as he was ready to battle as well. Facing Zekrom wasn't gonna be easy and I was hoping that I could handle it's power. Unfortunately, I also had Hilbert on my mind as well. I had hoped that he was doing alright with me being gone while I went to get Zekrom. I took a deep breath then looked to Master Cobalion and replied, "Let's do this Master Cobalion."

'I am with you Hilda,' Master Cobalion said gently as he took to the battlefield and a ready stance.

'Hmm... interesting,' observed Zekrom. 'You ask your master to go out and fight for you instead of one of your other Pokémon. Fascinating, are humans that have Pokémon at their side.'

In all honesty, I was terrified that I was gonna try to battle Zekrom and I tried to hide from Master Cobalion and even Zekrom, but I was foolish to even try it. As the battle started, I threw a Quick Ball hoping that I wouldn't have to battle Zekrom and that he would come quietly. Boy, was I wrong despite coming close to catching him in that Quick Ball.

'Do not think that I will come quietly in one of those miniature capsules,' Zekrom rebuked me with a hardened and stern look on his face.

I gulped in terror and replied as I stammered, "At least I tried to get you to come quietly."

'I'll give you an 'A' for trying,' Master Cobalion said to me.

I closed my eyes as I tried to force myself to be brave and face Zekrom.

"Alright Master, use Quick Attack on Zekrom," I said to Master Cobalion.

'I am on it,' acknowledged Master Cobalion as he darted at Zekrom with confounding speed.

Zekrom was braced himself for the Quick Attack readied his own counterattack. He began to gather his own willpower to his head and charged at Master Cobalion.

"You have got to do better than that" began Zekrom, preparing to use a powerful Zen Headbutt, which unfortunately managed to score a direct hit on Master Cobalion, the good thing is that due to him being a Steel/Fighting-Type Pokemon, it would only do normal damage.

_He's tough, but he won't defeat me! _snapped Master Cobalion, giving his opponent a darkened glare and knew that he needed to make his next attack count as his Steel-Type attacks won't do him any good due to Zekrom being a Dragon/Electric-Type Pokemon.

"Alright, then… let's try this… use your Take Down attack now!" I ordered, in which Master Cobalion's response was to charge towards Zekrom with this move, giving it everything he's got despite the recoil that would hurt him from using it.

Zekrom roared as the attack made contact and sparks of electricity formed all over his body as he was prepared to use a powerful Thunder attack, striking down Master Cobalion and caused him to screech in pain as he felt the move. Much to my dismay, this also ended up paralyzing him right on the spot and the Legendary Dragon merely felt disappointed.

'I had hoped that it would not be all you have to bring to me, it wouldn't be much of a fight if you were to lose so easily against me…' he said, and causing my eyes to harden and I commented to myself that I had enough of this bull crap.

"I refuse to lose, no matter what the odds are and I promise that this battle is far from over…" I told him, going over to Master Cobalion's side as he slowly began getting back onto his feet so we can continue fighting to the very end and a smile formed on my face as it will be a battle worth fighting.

While is was battling against Zekrom, Abelia was having a heck of a time against Team Plasma as they tried to overwhelm her and her Pokémon.

"Give it up girl, you can't defeat Team Plasma," snarled one of the Plasma grunts. "We will take all the Pokémon and spread our malice throughout the world."

'_Not if we have anything to say about that,'_ lashed back the shiny Genesect.

"Alright Genesect, use your Magnet Bomb on that Seviper," ordered Abelia. "Scizor, Bullet Punch on Trubbish."

'_On it Mistress Abelia,_' acknowledged both Genesect and Scizor.

On our end, Master Cobalion and I were fighting hard against Zekrom. Much to our surprise, a Cheri Berry mysteriously fell down and landed near Master Cobalion. Master Cobalion was surprised to see the Cheri Berry land near him and he ate the berry, curing him of the paralysis brought on by Zekrom's Thunder attack.

"Are you alright Master Cobalion?" I asked Master Cobalion.

'I've never felt better, Hilda,' Master Cobalion replied as he turned and gave me an assuring smile. 'Now let's get Zekrom.'

I softened my eyes as I gave a slight nod in agreement and said, "Time to show Zekrom we mean business, Master. Use your Sacred Sword!"

'Gladly,' acknowledged Master Cobalion as he began to gather energy for his signature attack that he shared with Terrakion and Virizion.

Zekrom then noticed this and gave a grin as he said, 'Finally you show your true power. Come at me with everything you've got.'

Zekrom then charged up for one of his own signature attacks, Fusion Bolt. As he was finished charging up his attack, Master Cobalion was ready to charge at Zekrom. Both Master Cobalion and Zekrom charged at each other as both attacks stopped each other cold and they were in a battle for dominance.

'Do you honestly think that... your sword will... stop... me?' challenged Zekrom.

'I can... certainly... try,' answered Master Cobalion as he pushed forward as the Fighting Gem began to glow around Master Cobalion's neck as his Sacred Sword attack was getting stronger thanks to the Fighting Gem. For three minutes, neither Zekrom nor Master Cobalion was able to overpower each other as they used their signature moves against each other.

"You can do it Master Cobalion, I know you can do it Master," I urged Master Cobalion.

All of a sudden, Master Cobalion began to push back Zekrom inch by inch and then used his strength to make a final push and slammed Zekrom into the cave wall. Zekrom went wide eyed as he saw that he was being pushed back by Master Cobalion and then became out of breath as he was slammed into the cave wall behind him. Once the dust settled, Zekrom was still on the cave wall and Master Cobalion was on the ground catching his breath. While both Pokémon were dazed, I decided that now was the time to try and catch Zekrom while he was dazed.

"Alright, go Heal Ball," I said as I threw the all pink Pokéball at Zekrom and successfully getting it in the Heal Ball.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched the Heal Ball shake as Zekrom was trying to get out. At first when I got a confirmation click, I thought I had caught Zekrom at last and was about to celebrate when I noticed that Zekrom was shaking in the Heal Ball trying to get out of it and would keep it up for another minute until he finally gave up and another confirmation click sounded as Zekrom was now mine.

"Alright, I have Zekrom as new Pokémon on my team," I said with joy as Master Cobalion struggled to get up.

'I'm glad that I could help you get... get Zekrom,' Master Cobalion said to me as he was wobbly.

"Thanks for your help Master Cobalion," I said to Master Cobalion as I prepared the Pokéball I caught him in. "Here take a good rest Master. You deserve it."

After recalling Master Cobalion to his Pokéball, I turned to see that Abelia was about to be overwhelmed by those Team Plasma goons as they both sent out more Pokémon, ignoring the rules of having either a double or triple battle. It was then that I decided to help her out and I had just the perfect partner to help her out. Abelia was gritting her teeth as Team Plasma was about ready to overwhelm her until I got involved.

"Hang on Abelia, the Heroine of Ideals is here to help," I said with a slight grin on my face. "Let's go... Zekrom!"

The black legendary Dragon/Electric Pokémon came out of the Heal Ball I captured him in at full strength and fully healed after facing Master Cobalion.

"Ready to go Zekrom?" I asked the Dragon Pokémon that belonged to my ancestor.

'I am ready to serve you young Heroine of Ideals,' answered Zekrom as she gave a slight bow. 'I shall serve you as I have served your ancestor in the past.'

"Alright now go after Trubbish with Dragonbreath!" I exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

Zekrom narrowed his eyes at the Trash bag Pokémon and used his Dragonbreath attack at it.

'_Gah!_' exclaimed the Trubbish as it was caught off guard by Zekrom appearing and let alone joining the fight.

"Wha? No, not my Trubbish!" exclaimed the Plasma grunt that owned the Trubbish.

Abelia turned to see me with Zekrom at my side instead of Master Cobalion.

"What happened to your master?" asked Abelia.

"He's exhausted from battling against Zekrom," I answered Abelia. "But I have Zekrom at my side as well."

"Well, I could certainly use the help," Abelia said to me.

"Right, let's send these guys packing home," I suggested to Abelia.

Once we defeated the Plasma grunts and their lieutenant, we headed back to Eindoak Town on the back of Zekrom. But as we approached Eindoak Town, I recalled Zekrom to his Heal Ball and decided to keep his Heal Ball on a necklace. There was no since in letting everyone know that I had Zekrom as my Pokémon or that I was the Heroine of Ideals. No one needed to know that just yet and I wasn't going to broadcast it now.

May seemed to waited up for me and Abelia as we had been gone for a bit and then I noticed that my boyfriend had disappeared I was quick to go out, this time it was May that followed me and Abelia had gone to bed with her own boyfriend.

May's POV

I had noticed that Hilda and Abelia were returning from going out. But I had also noticed that Hilbert was gone so I was going to follow him and make sure he was alright, but it seemed that Hilda could somehow sense that her boyfriend wasn't there and was about to go out again. I went down and joined Hilda this time as I wanted to make sure that both of my friends were alright.

"You sure that you wanna join me?" Hilda asked me. "I'm going out there to back my boyfriend up in case he needs my help."

"I'm sure I wanna go with you," I answered Hilda with a slight smile on my face as I was determined to see that both of my friends were both safe.

'[yawn] Then... [yawn] I'm going with you May,' replied Victini as he revealed himself and looked at bit sleepy. 'I [yawn] can't have my trainer getting injured on me now. I have much to offer you here in Unova. You need me as your guide and even translator.'

"You sure that you don't wanna stay behind and sleep?" I asked my furry companion.

'I'm [yawn] positive,' Victini answered sleepily. 'It's my job to see to your safety whenever you're not with your boyfriend as well.'

I gave a slight nod to Victini and motioned for him to follow me and Hilda as we went to follow Hilbert as he was going to find his Dragon Pokémon to awaken.

Not 30 minutes later, we followed Hilbert through the recesses of the castle and then down a winding crystal path towards the bottom of the crystal cave. As Hilda and I follow Hilbert, we noticed that Damon had also been following Hilbert before Hilda and I were following him. It seemed that he was determined to claim Hilbert's Dragon Pokémon as well so he could be known as the Hero of Truth instead of Hilbert. Hilda and I watched Hilbert and Damon battle for control of the Light Stone and it was an intense battle as both Hilbert and Terrakion fought hard until Damon spotted me and Hilda. What Damon did next was certainly unforgivable as he ordered his Gothitelle to use a dark trick to get Hilbert to move away from the Light Stone to shield Hilda from the Shadow Ball attack that Gothitelle sent at her to break Hilbert's focus and allow him to claim the Light Stone. Hilbert recalled Terrakion and the three of us returned to our sleeping rooms. I guess I forgot to mention that we saw members of Team Plasma laying on the crystal path as Hilda and I were following Hilbert. On the way back up, Hilbert took notice of the still unconscious members of Team Plasma as we returned back up to the castle. Things were only get worse with Reshiram in Damon's possession and they certainly did get worse and not just Hilda and Hilbert, but Victini's potential mate as well.

'_Huh? What's going on here?_' wondered a puzzled Katsumi as the Barrier of Protection was closing in around her as she tried to escape.

Katsumi tried to flee back into the castle only to run into a problem with a Gothitelle, a Psychic/Flying Pokémon and many other Psychic that looked like a pale green blob. Ash had pulled out his Pokédex to identify the said Pokémon.

'Solsis, the Cell Pokémon,' chirped Ash's Pokédex. 'The membrane that surrounds Solsis allows it to live anywhere. Solsis also has formidable Psychic power it uses to defeat it's enemies.'

'Let... her... go,' Victini snarled at Damon before sighing as if he was going to make a decision he was going to regret. 'Take me instead and let her go.'

'_What?!_' asked a very shocked and surprised Katsumi. '_N-no, you can't do that. This is my problem, n-not yours. W-why do something so reckless and fool-hearty?_'

Victini held his hand to Katsumi as he answered with a confident smile on his face, 'Because you've been lonely for so many years and I wanna help you have the same attention and affection that I have with the humans I travel with. Not to mention... you're certainly the mate I've been wanting to have.'

Katsumi blushed at Victini's answer and smiled greatly as she put her own hand up to the barrier as if she were reaching to him.

Damon smiled and lowered the barrier to release Katsumi from her confinement as Victini grabbed her and whispered something to her in which she gave an enthusiastic nod. Victini on the other hand got on pedestal Katsumi was trapped on and gave him an evil grin while when he wasn't looking at him. Unfortunately, Damon's Gothitelle saw it and glared at him as she was trying to figure out what my silly little buddy was planning.

Damon then began to raise the castle with Victini's power and it seemed to be working until Victini gave Katsumi a nod when Damon wasn't looking. Katsumi returned the nod with of her own and motioned for us to let our Pokémon out to attack the barrier while Victini sabotaged Damon's efforts to restore the Kingdom of the Veil. Victini returned the Sword of the Veil back to where it was placed as in the story that Mannes and Wonitta told us.

"What?" asked shocked Damon as he was surprised at the sudden turn of events. "What's going on here?

Damon then looked to Victini and demanded, "What have you done? You were supposed move the the Castle back to where it once sat."

'I said that I would take Katsumi's place,' Victini calmly countered back at Damon. 'I never said that I was gonna help return the castle to where it stood before. Besides, I'm sure that the King had his reason for not wanting the castle to be moved again.'

Damon gritted his teeth and then went wide eyed as Manaphy and Ash's Pikachu glared at him with daggers in their eyes.

'_Let our brother out of that barrier,_' demanded Manaphy as he still glared at Damon.

Damon than sighed in defeat as his plan failed and released my Victini from the barrier. Victini then shook himself to rid himself of any dust or sweat that might have accumulated on his fur.

'Told you that you wouldn't succeed,' Victini snapped at Damon.

Damon glared at Victini and said under his breath, "It would've worked if you would've just moved the castle."

'_Oh Victini, you baka!_' exclaimed Katsumi as she latched on to my silly little buddy with tears running down her cheeks. '_I thought you were going to actually move the castle. My master moved it to where the town sits to keep the Dragon Force from going out of control._'

'Everything is gonna be alright,' Victini assured Katsumi.

"That's where you're wrong," said an unwelcome person that we didn't wanna see again.

"Huh, who the Houndour are you?" demanded Jonathan.

'That would be Ghetsis, the leader of Team Plasma,' answered Victini with venom in his telepathic voice. 'He tried to use my power for his selfish gains.'

"There is no need for other humans to have Pokémon at their side," Ghetsis said to everyone there in room where Victini had double crossed Damon. "Only we of Team Plasma are the only ones who deserve to have Pokémon as we spread our malice and will to control all Pokémon around the world."

'Yawn, boring,' Victini smarted off at Ghetsis.

Ghetsis ignored Victini for the moment and continued, "There is no one here that is worthy have any Pokémon, especially not those two Victini Pokémon and not even Zekrom or Reshiram. The Hero of Truth nor the Hero of Ideals has the right wield the power of either Dragon Pokémon they are 'suppose' to have control over."

'[Yawn] I'm bored Katsumi,' Victini informed as his potential mate as he sat on a Japanese table with macarons in the center, different tea cups and a big air pot of tea. 'Want a some macarons and a cup of tea?'

'_Oh yes please, Victini,_' answered Katsumi as she too was getting by Ghetsis ranting about how people weren't worthy having Pokémon by their side.

Pikachu and Manaphy joined both Victini Pokémon as we too joined both Victini and Katsumi completely ignoring Ghetsis.

'_Another macaron, please,_' Katsumi requested as the basket of macarons floated over to Katsumi. '_Thank you._'

As soon as Ghetsis was finished with his pointless rambling, he saw that none of us were even listening and were talking amongst each other while he was ranting. Ghetsis's face then became red as he was furious that we were ignoring him. His minions with him had sweatdrops on their foreheads as Ghetsis was about to lose his cool.

"Don't ignore me while I'm ranting at you!" shouted Ghetsis

'Did anyone hear something?' Victini asked the group.

"Nope," answered Damon as he had joined the group for some tea and a couple macarons.

'_I didn't hear anything Brother Victini,_' Manaphy answered Victini as was enjoying his cup of tea.

'_I know I didn't hear anything either, Brother Victini,_' agreed Latias. '_All I'm hearing is a Gastly._'

Pikachu snickered at Latias's answer she gave Victini as did several others. Ghetsis on the other hand wasn't gonna let us finish our refreshments before we went back to the Eindoak Town competition. He walked over towards us, snatched a couple cups and threw them on the ground near his foot.

"The time has come for we of Team Plasma to claim both Dragon Pokémon, the Swords of Justice and now both Victory Pokémon," Ghetsis announced to us.

'Okay, those macarons are really good,' Terrakion said to to the other Swords of Justice as they too were ignoring Ghetsis on purpose.

'You're right about that Terrakion,' agreed Virizion, 'but having some Oran berries here too would've been nice. Just to make sure that there's some healthy food for us Pokémon to eat.'

Hilda's master, Cobalion, said nothing as he drank his tea ignoring Ghetsis. Before Ghetsis could say or anything, Cobalion glared at the frustrated leader of Team Plasma forcing him and the others of Team Plasma to withdraw.

"I will have all Pokémon of the world under my possession!" shouted Ghetsis as he and his minions went back to their helicopter they flew in and sped away from the castle and town.

'Well... I certainly feel refreshed,' Victini said to group.

'_As do I Brother Victini,_' agreed Pikachu.

'_I feel refreshed too,_' replied Latias, '_but now I feel like there's a cold wind still from the Gastly that left._'

'Meh, don't worry about it Sister Latias,' assured Victini. 'It'll pass.'

'Shouldn't you back to what you were discussing earlier?" Reshiram asked the group as he too used Telepathy like Victini, the Swords of Justice and apparently Zekrom as I told.

A couple hours later, Damon and Hilbert battled each other once again battled for control of Reshiram. Hilbert was lucky that Damon hadn't captured Reshiram in a Pokéball. This time Hilbert defeated Damon without him using any dirty tricks. But instead of gaining control of Reshiram like we thought he might be able to do, Reshiram insisted that Hilbert battle him just Hilda battled Zekrom. Reshiram wanted Hilbert to prove that he was really the descendant of his former master, the Prince of Truth. Hilbert was nervous to be trying to catch Reshiram.

Hilbert took a ready stance and sent out Terrakion face Reshiram. He hoped that Terrakion would have the type advantage against Reshiram. At the start of the battle, Hilbert decided to try and avoid battling Reshiram and threw a Quick Ball at Reshiram hoping to avoid a unnecessary battle. Reshiram was sucked in the Quick Ball and it shook and as Reshiram tried to get out. After six shakes, and a couple confirmation clicks and much to everyone's surprise, Reshiram was caught by Hilbert much to Hilbert's joy. Hilda huffed in frustration as she had to battle Zekrom and couldn't have caught her Dragon Pokémon just like Hilbert.

A few hours later, the Pokémon contest was over and we saw Jonathan and Abelia on the podium with all of their Pokémon out for a picture for the town newspaper and the hall of fame at city hall.

"Alright competitors and people of Eindoak Town, the winners of this year's Pokémon contest are Jonathan Seabright and Abelia Granger."

Everyone applauded for the trainers from the Oblivia Islands. It was nice to see that our new friends won the tournament. With the tournament over with, Ash could think about the Castellia City gym and I could fully think about the contest. It was relief for me especially after Mannes told us Castellia City was just about a half a day's walk from Eindoak Town.

"Guess this is where we part ways," Jonathan said to us.

"You sure you don't you wanna join up with us?" Ash asked Jonathan.

"We're sure," Abelia answered for Jonathan. "Besides a large group is more than likely to be jumped by those Team Plasma guys and we still have more studying to do here before we move on Relena and Richie's home region."

"Maybe we can join up as group if you decide to the Atlantica Islands," offered Jonathan.

Ash nodded his head in agreement to the Jonathan's suggestion as he liked the idea and wanted to travel to Relena and Richie's home region after learning about it.

"But we can promise that you'll see us again," assured Abelia as she gave me and Relena a hug each.

"It's great seeing you two," Relena said to the couple from the Oblivia Islands. "Just be careful watch your backs with Team Plasma lurking about."

Abelia gave a slight nod and replied, "We will. Make sure you stick with Ash and May, they're good friends and they certainly need any help you can give them."

Before Relena could reply, we heard Hilda and Hilbert talking to the three Swords of Justice.

"What? Are you sure you have to go?" Hilbert asked Terrakion.

"But Master Cobalion..." Hilda began to protest.

'We do understand your frustration,' Virizion began in a soothing telepathic voice, 'but you have your Dragon Pokémon to protect you while we're gone.'

'Do not worry yourselves young Hero of Truth and Heroine of Ideals,' began Cobalion, 'we will return to you.'

'Yeah, we just got an apprentice to train up ourselves,' added Terrakion with a grin. 'We'll be back before you know it.'

Hilda took an all white Pokéball, with red lining, she caught Cobalion in and made it a necklace, putting it around Cobalion's neck. Hilbert and Ash did the same thing for other Swords of Justice. As for Katsumi, she approached Relena with smile on her face as she said, '_You know, I'm actually from your home region. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to go with you, if you'll permit it._'

Relena was shocked to hear that Katsumi was from her home region and asked to go with her.

"Y-Yes, of course you can come with me," said a taken back Relena. "I'd be honored if you joined me. But I take it the other reason is so you can be with your potential mate and keep him from hitting on human females."

'_Well, I guess great minds think alike, eh?_' asked Katsumi as she smiled and scratched the back of her head.

Relena then produced another Pokéball. This one was an white Pokéball that looked like the same Pokéball used to put around Cobalion's neck. She lightly tapped Katsumi on her forehead and then caught the female Victory Pokémon.

After saying our goodbyes to our friends and the Swords of Justice, we finally headed onwards to Castellia City for our next badges and ribbon.

Victini: Sparky would like to thank Lily Nadesico and EmperorDraco7 again for letting him use their OCs once again. Oh they'll be back at a later time. Sparky has also told me to let you readers know that he'll be on a two month hiatus while he gets caught up with his other fics. Please, please leave reviews for the author. Maybe tell him that Victini are quite the ladies Pokémon to have. [grabbed by his left ear] OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! Not the left ear again! Not the left ear!

Katsumi: _Let's go Victini, Sparky wants his two month break and we're gonna give him that two month hiatus._


	17. Chapter 15

Alright it's Katsumi's turn to do the disclaimer this time

Victini: Why can't I do the disclaimer?

Katsumi: _Because Sparky asked me to do the disclaimer this time. _[_Grabbing Victini by his left ear_]

Victini: Not the left ear again! Not my left ear again! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Katsumi: [_sigh_] _Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. The company Nintendo owns it all. Sparky is only using characters and story elements for entertainment purposes. Come on Victini, we have a contest to prepare for._

Victini: Why must those around me be so cruel?

Me: Stop whining and be glad you have a mate.

15: Liberty Island Bound and Unexpected Aid While Under Siege

The group crossed the Sky Arrow Bridge with little difficulty. For Relena, she was happy to have a Pokémon originally from her home region. Katsumi had explained that most Victini live in heavily tropical areas and that they had to adapt to the tropical climate of their home.

'Hmm... I guess that explains why you look so perfect,' my silly little buddy said to Katsumi as he gently held her hands.

'_I thank you for your kind words,_' began Katsumi, '_but your flattery and smooth-talking isn't going to win me over so easily._'

Victini just crashed to the ground with his eyes widened in shock that his words and attempt to be a gentleman were foiled by Katsumi as she sat on Aurora's head with a grin on her face. Relena just laughed as Victini peeled himself off the ground. My friend then got back on the back of Aurora and let him carry her. I always wondered if Aurora ever got tired ferrying Relena on his back. Then I approached Aurora as we entered the next city.

"Hey, don't you ever get tired of ferrying Relena on your back?" I asked Aurora as I anticipated what he was going to tell me.

'I do not tire of ferrying my daughter on my back,' Aurora answered me calmly. 'I know that she enjoys riding on my back on occasion. I also know that she mostly prefers to walk on her own as well.'

"Alright guys, looks like we've made it to Castellia City," Cilan informed us. "There are so many things to do and find in the big city. There are even ferries to a couple of islands with informative and tours with flavorful information as well."

'Would one of those ferries happen to go Liberty Island?' Victini asked the Grass-type gym leader of Striaton City.

"Yes, why do you ask?" asked a curious Cilan.

Victini gave no answer as it seemed that he wanted to go to this Liberty Island. After getting directions to the Liberty Pier, Victini was insistent on getting on the boat to go to Liberty Island. This alarmed his potential mate and Relena's new Pokémon, Katsumi.

'_Wait, are you going to abandon us?_' asked an alarmed Katsumi.

Victini shook his head 'no' and said, 'I only wish to see my home for the last time. There are people on that island who were good to me and taught me everything I know. They have a right to know that I'm alright and that I've found a new home. I never break the promises I make.'

Katsumi was apparently satisfied with my Victini's answer as the female Victini from the Atlantica Islands relaxed herself on Aurora's head and then Victini took my heads gently.

'Please May, I wish to at least see my home one last time before I continue my journey with you,' requested Victini as he started to have tears run down his eyes.

I looked to Victini and sighed with a slight smile on my face. I couldn't say 'no' to Victini and I certainly wasn't going to keep him from seeing his home on Liberty Island.

"Alright Victini, we'll go to Liberty Island," I said to my silly little buddy.

Victini happily took my left hand and kissed it like a gentleman. Tee hee, I think that made Ash a bit jealous and his face a bit red, knowing that my Victini was treating me as if he were a gentleman. The group agreed to go to Liberty Island and see Victini's home. However, Victini asked that only myself, Katsumi and Hilda go with him to Liberty Island. He wanted to keep the group limited as we went to see his home. The others were disappointed to hear that Victini only wanted certain people to go see Liberty Island. But then Victini changed his mind and asked Relena and Aurora to come along. Relena looked to her boyfriend and asked him to keep an eye on things on Castellia City. As we were on our way to Liberty Island, Relena got a call on her cell phone. I had half expected it to be her older sibling Jessica and she would talk to Relena about her work as a fashion designer. Oddly enough it wasn't her sister Jessica.

"Kaiou here," Relena said in calm tone. "Uh huh. I see and when is this supposed to go down? Alright then, keep me posted."

"Huh? What's going on Relena?" asked Hilda as she was wondering what was going on.

"My informants just told me that Team Plasma and Team Rocket from Kanto are going to try and take over Castellia City," answered Relena. "But they're trying to get the start date of the attack."

All of us widened our eyes in shock after hearing Relena tell us that Castellia City was about to be turned into a battlefield between the local crime syndicate here in Unova and Team Rocket from Kanto. For the moment there was nothing we could do as we were en route to Liberty Island, Victini's home. The trip lasted two hours and Victini was sound asleep in Hilda's arms while I had Manaphy asleep in my own arms.

"All passengers going to Liberty Island prepare to disembark for the three hour tour of the island," announced the captain of the ferry. "All tours on Liberty Island are self-guided so please enjoy yourselves."

We silently filed off the ship as Victini awoke and was happy to see that he awoke in Hilda's arms. Katsumi... she wasn't happy to see Victini in Hilda's arms, no, it was more like Victini was trying to get affection from Hilda that made her unhappy. She was quick to then grab to Victini by his left ear and pull out of Hilda's arms and with an angry look on her face.

'_Alright, let's go Pokémon Casanova,_' Katsumi said with a vein popping on her forehead. '_You said you wanted to see this place before you left with May._'

'Ow, ow, ow, ow,' Victini said repeatedly as he was definitely in pain from Katsumi pulling her mate's left ear.

Katsumi finally let go of Victini's left ear as he lead the way to the lighthouse he was living in before Team Plasma captured him. As we explored the island, some of the Pokémon that were living in the garden took notice of Victini and the rest of us they welcomed us to Liberty Garden and the lighthouse.

'I wish to see the master of the lighthouse,' Victini requested to the Lilligant.

'_As you wish Victini,_' acknowledged the Flowering Pokémon as she lead the way. '_It is good to see that you're back on Liberty Island. The master and his family were worried when they heard you went missing. But they brought in another Victini that was neglected. The master's daughters said the new Victini wasn't you._'

'It's nice to know that I am still loved by the family,' Victini said to Lilligant. 'But I came to see them and to let them know that I have found a new home and someone who loves me.'

'_I see,_' replied Lilligant as she looked to me, Aurora and the other ladies in the group. '_Well, I am happy for you. You seem to have found a nice home alright. It will certainly be sad to see you leave._'

After the short conversation, we reached the lighthouse to meet the family who had been caring for Victini for so long. For this part, Victini waved us off and asked us to explore garden and interact with the Pokémon here while he spoke with the family who had taken care of him for so many years. That made me uneasy that Victini wanted to speak to the family alone and I wasn't the only the one who was alarmed by this. But Victini was firm in his decision and kissed both mine and Katsumi's right hands in reassurance that he would be back. Both Katsumi and I accepted his word and how could we not, especially with him treating us both like ladies. After Victini had settled his decision with us he went to visit the family for the last time. As Victini visited with the family, the other ladies, Katsumi included, and Aurora were in the garden being marveled by the beautiful orchids, lilies and various other flowers grown in the Liberty Garden.

Two hours had passed and Victini had returned from his visit with family with a confident smirk on his face. The first lady he silently approached was his own potential mate, Katsumi, as he covered her eyes and asked, 'Guess who?'

'_That lovable Pokémon Casanova who treats me like a lady,_' answered Katsumi with a smile on her face as she turned around to Victini with his usual causal smile on his face.

'That's right,' replied Victini with a slight giggle as he and Katsumi rubbed their cheeks against each other as a greeting.

"Welcome back Victini," Relena said to my silly buddy.

"Hey welcome back," Hilda said, but was eager to get back to Hilbert.

"Did you enjoy your visit?" I asked Victini.

'Yes I did enjoy my visit,' answered Victini. 'But they were sad to hear that I was leaving them and coming with you. They did say that I was welcome to come back and visit whenever I please.'

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure you come back to visit on occasion," I assured the furry Victory Pokémon.

After visiting Liberty Island, we returned to Castellia City where our boyfriends were waiting for us to return. All of us got off the boat and were quick to rejoin them as it looked like they had quite an ordeal. My poor Ash looked like he had been poisoned recently and Relena was quick to rush over to him and heal him of his affliction with her healing magic. To be honest, I was kinda jealous that Relena could use magic and I couldn't. But then again, it is probably a good thing that I can't use magic. I can at least sense Manaphy and can see Samaiya in my dreams. According to the guys, a stampede of Venipede came through Castellia City. What we did not expect to see was that Jonathan and Abelia came to Castellia City and helped with dealing with herd of Venipede. I was surprised to see the couple from Oblivia again, but I was happy nonetheless. I went up and hugged Abelia with a smile on my face as she too was happy to see me, Relena and Hilda once again as she also hugged them as well. Victini... well my silly little buddy went over to Abelia and kissed her left hand and got his left ear pulled by Katsumi. He tried to explain that he was greeting Abelia and that he was taught to be a gentleman by the women of the family who cared for him. Katsumi would not hear it as she told him that he needed to stop flirting with the human females and be more focused on his relationship with her.

"Katsumi, I really don't mind if Victini kisses my hand," Abelia assured the female Victini. "As long as he doesn't try to get any affection from me."

Katsumi studied Abelia for a moment and gave a slight nod to her as she seemed satisfied with Abelia's assurance and let go of Victini's left ear. My silly buddy rubbed his left ear and whined, 'If I keep getting my left ear pulled, it's going to get stretched out or I'm going to lose my hearing in that ear one of these days.'

'_Stop complaining about it Brother Victini,_' Manaphy said to the whining Victory Pokémon as he hung from my left shoulder.

'_I'm with Brother Manaphy, Brother Victini,_' agreed Latias as she had popped out of her Cherish Ball. '_Not to mention you're always wanting affection from the human females._'

'What's wrong with that Sister Latias?' asked Victini.

Before Latias could give an answer, she narrowed her eyes and noticed that a sinister looking boat had been in the sky and was landing at a different pier, away from from the Liberty Pier.

'Sister Latias, are you okay?' Victini asked the female Eon Pokémon.

'_I thought I saw a flying boat land in the water,_' answered Latias.

'Eh, a flying boat?' asked Victini asked a dumbfounded Victini. 'Sounds kinda weird, but I believe you.'

Before I spoke up, Relena's cell phone went off and startled Katsumi as she had never seen a cell phone before.

"Kaiou here," Relena said calmly as she answered her cell phone. "I see. When did they get here to Castellia City?"

We stood there watching Relena take her call with interest. She apparently had a serious look on her face with whoever she was calling. If there was any bad news, she didn't show any emotion and stayed cool.

"Will they try to sabotage the Pokémon Contest and/or take over the Pokémon Gym before starting their operation?" Relena asked the person who spoke to her over the phone. "I understand. We'll do what we can to stop them or slow them down. Just do your thing against Team Plasma and we'll leave them to you. We'll take care of your associates in Team Rocket."

Relena then hung up and put her phone in the left breast pocket of her jacket and then looked to us with concern. She was certainly concerned as it seemed that we were going to be dragged into another conflict between Team Plasma and Team Rocket. Abelia looked to Relena with a concerned look on her face.

"Is something wrong Relena?" Abelia asked as she approached Relena.

"We have a problem," answered Relena as she looked to us. "Team Plasma and Team Rocket seemed to have decided to come Castellia City and turn it into a battleground between each other. Unfortunately, they've already made their way here last night.

All of us widened our eyes as she continued, "Luckily my sources told me that Team Rocket operatives are in the sewers of Castellia City. They'll be trying to take over certain areas in the sewers where they can take over certain buildings in the city."

"You mean like the local gym, police and a bank?" Jonathan asked Relena.

"Team Rocket is a well-funded criminal organization," I explained to Jonathan. "I don't think they need to rob banks."

"Unless they plan to seize Team Plasma's money and whatever they own here in Unova," added Abelia. "Makes perfect sense."

'But what do we do about Team Plasma?' asked Victini. 'We can't just focus on Team Rocket and forget about Team Plasma.'

'_For once Brother Victini and I are in agreement,_' Pikachu said with a slight nod of his head.

'_I agree with Brother Victini too,_' added Latias.

With Ash and Anna, my fiancée couldn't help be glance at his twin sister from time to time even though they haven't talked for sometime since their reunion it couldn't hurt for them to get some real time get some catching up especially as they had been separated prior to Ash having started his journey in Kanto but from the looks of it, it seems Clefairy and Pikachu are getting along well. "Say Ash…" she began, wanting to see if they could at least try and bond again. "Is everything the matter?"

"Not really, I mean besides from Team Rocket and Team Plasma, things are okay… Since when did you become a trainer?" he decided to try and change the subject for the time being, curious on what made her into the trainer that she was right now.

"I never really thought of that lately but all I wanted was to see you and mom again, that is… if she remembers me…" answered Anna, feeling like tears were about to form on her face as she was hoping to their mother again and even hope that she still cared for her young daughter despite what happened between their parents years ago and Ash couldn't blame her. "What if she…"

"Anna, don't say it like that, I'm sure that mom still cares for you and hey, I am sorry that I didn't recognize you just that it was years since we last played together" Ash tried to reassure Anna, something that made her slightly better but it didn't say much since she had almost forgotten about her birthplace at Pallet Town as well as wondering how much has changed since the day she left with their father. "How's dad?"

"He's fine, he still wishes he could see you again and see how much you've changed… Plus I got my starter from Daisy when she visited dad after I became 10 years old" explained Anna, which pretty much surprised the boy I loved completely to learn that his father still talks about him after so long but the fact that Gary's older sister Daisy Oak was able to pay her a visit was even more surprising. "In fact, I didn't actually think I'd see you again here but I have heard you took part in the Indigo League not too long back."

"Wait you have?" he asked, rather confused by how she knew about that fact to which Anna could only nod her head to confirm that it was true.

"Yeah, my friend Jeanette told me how you managed to beat her in the 4th round of that tournament especially with a Muk" explained Anna, of course when he heard the name Jeanette, this actually made his eyes widen in shock as he realized who she was talking about but it also raised some other questions as well.

"Wait a minute, you're actually friends with Jeanette Fisher?!" exclaimed Ash, nearly in shock by what he heard, even Pikachu couldn't believe his own ears as the Electric-Type remembered battling against and losing to Jeanette's Bellsprout back at the Indigo League tournament. "How exactly is that even possible?!"

"It's a long story but let's just say I've actually met her while I was on my own journey as a trainer and she gave me a tour of her hometown Crimson City" Anna couldn't help but laugh a bit at her brother's reaction and Pikachu's for the matter, more so as it's been a long time since he heard anything about Jeanette. "We still keep in touch via our PokéGears, I'm sure she would be rather interested in speaking to you after how long little brother? Who knows, she might bring you to Crimson City after the Unova League and even challenge you to a rematch."

Ash sweat-dropped which somehow made Pikachu and the others find it amusing when Anna considered him her younger brother despite them being twins, I even found that to be a bit funny myself as I was beginning to like the girl now and wanted to meet this Jeanette girl sometime as well as see what Crimson City is like.

'_I never would have guessed that Jeanette of all people would be friends with Ash's twin sister…_' said Pikachu, he always wondered about what happened with Jeanette when she left the Indigo League after her defeat and now he knows she's doing rather well since then maybe even gotten stronger to boot. '_To be honest, I'd actually kinda wished she was Ash's new rival rather than the two he recently got after Gary decided to become a Pokemon Researcher like Professor Oak._'

'_Is that so?_' This made Clefairy curious on what Pikachu was talking about as he told her about Paul and Trip, both of which are basically the rivals Ash had with Paul having been the rival at Sinnoh, including how abusive he was towards his Pokemon, mainly a Chimchar that he used to own before it became Ash's Pokemon, and right now Trip was the raven-haired young man's most recent rival here in the Unova Region, while he wasn't as bad as Paul, he too was lacking something that Gary actually had.

"Well, I have never heard of this Paul guy," Anna said to Ash. "But if I see him, I'll be sure to keep my distance from him."

"Back to the task at hand," Abelia said to us she brought focus back to our task, "how are we going to stop these Team Rocket guys if we can't find an entrance to the sewers?"

Before Relena gave her an answer, it seemed that one of the Venipede Pokémon that Abelia and the others had helped came back and said, '_If you're looking for the entrance to sewers of this human-made jungle, follow me please._'

Relena gave the shiny Venipede a slight nod and motioned for us to follow her and the female shiny Venipede.

'_There's a shiny Candle Pokémon waiting for us to guide you towards the wicked humans that came from a faraway land,_' explained the shiny Venipede. '_She does have a price for helping you out._"

"Candle Pokémon?" asked Anna in confusion. "I didn't know there was a species of Pokémon that look like a candle.

The shiny Venipede looked to Victini and said, '_That human must obviously not come from Unova._'

'Almost all of the humans here in this group are not from Unova,' explained Victini, 'with exception of one of the three gym leaders from Striation City, the Heroine of Ideals and the Hero of Truth.'

'_Hmm, what about the blue Pokémon sitting on your human's other shoulder and the yellow rodent Pokémon?_' asked the shiny Venipede as she led us back in the direction of the Skyarrow Bridge to an area known as the Sightseeing Pier. From there, the shiny Venipede then lead us to an entrance to the sewers of Castellia City. As we descended into the sewers, a shiny Candle Pokémon was there to greet us just like Venipede said there was.

'_Greetings to you, humans,_' the shiny Candle Pokémon said to us as she bowed to us. '_I am known as Litwick. You seek the wicked humans that have come from a faraway land, do you not?_'

We gave the Pokémon known as Litwick a slight nod in acknowledgment as we wanted to find and get rid of Team Rocket.

"Yeah, we wanna get rid of those idiots and hopefully take them down for good," Richie said to the shiny Litwick.

The others gave a slight nod in agreement to Richie's statement. We were certainly eager to get rid of Team Rocket like the other crime syndicates we've all come up against. Unbeknownst to us, we were being followed by another couple as proceeded into sewers of Castellia City. Relena surveyed the group and said, "Our group is too big to travel within the sewers. We need to split into three groups and take down Team Rocket."

We gave Relena a slight nod of agreement to this. Jonathan, Abelia, Richie and Misty went to battle any Team Rocket members near the entrance and make sure that our way was blocked. Of course, Abelia had her shiny Genesect, that she got from Relena, to make sure that our means of escape wasn't blocked off. The next group that was formed consisted Relena, Hilda, Hilbert and Cilan. As always, Relena's protective 'father' Aurora had Relena riding on his back for safety. The last group was made up myself, Ash and his twin sister Anna.

"Okay Ash, Anna and May, you three are going to go as deep as possible into Castellia Sewers and try to find the leader, Giovanni," Relena instructed us. "Don't be afraid to go all-out against them."

'_Just make sure that if there are female members of Team Rocket, that you not let Victini try to flirt with them,_' Katsumi said sternly as she was afraid that Victini might try to fraternize with the enemy.

Victini just chuckled telepathically as he tenderly held her hands and said, 'Oh my victorious beauty, I only flirt with females who don't belong to evil organizations.'

'_Good, see that you don't flirt with evil female humans,_' Katsumi said sternly.

After all the comic relief was finished, Ash, Anna and I proceeded deep into the Castellia sewers and battled Team Rocket members along the way, as well as training our Pokémon as well. As we were getting deeper into the sewers, Team Rocket started putting up a stronger fight as the members were obviously carrying stronger Pokémon. However, as we got to one point, Ash and I widened our eyes the sight of a man we thought we'd never see again. Both of us knew as the Iron Masked Marauder and he was capturing local Pokémon of the sewers with his stupid Dark Balls. I narrowed my eyes at the sight of those Dark Balls and remembered when he tried a second attempt to capture a Celebi with one of those evil Pokéballs. Well, I was certainly going to try and stop him.

But before any of us could get there, the couple that followed us brushed past us as if we weren't there and engaged the Iron Masked Marauder in a battle. The man had tan skin and complete black outfit and had a mechanical hand and his companion was an all too familiar face for Ash. She had a petite figure, was about four inches taller than me, I'd say maybe about five to ten pounds heavier than me and really cute styled blonde hair. As for her outfit... it looked like a cheap rip off of the uniforms for Team Aqua female grunts and I prefer not to describe it as it was a bit too raunchy, especially for my tastes. Anna and I had force Ash, Manaphy and Victini to keep their eyes forward and not focus one the blonde's raunchy outfit. The blonde-haired girl then looked at me and Anna, glaring at us because we were shielding our boys from looking at her outfit. I wasn't going to let my fiancee, my son Manaphy or my silly little buddy become perverts. At least Anna and I both agreed on keeping our boys from being perverts. As we filed past the battle, we heard combatants exchange words.

"So the Deserters come back," the Iron Masked Marauder said to the couple as they faced him. "What the hell makes you think that Giovanni wants you back?"

"And what gives you the right to think that we want back in?" the tan skinned man shot back at the Iron Masked Marauder. "Giovanni promised to help me with my mission to purge Orre of Cipher and Snagem. He lied at every turn and has kept us from returning home to Orre."

"Enough talking," snarled the Iron Masked Marauder. "Both of you will die right here and right now!"

The blonde girl gave a nod to her lover and then produced a Pokéball of her own as we slipped by letting them take care of the Iron Masked Marauder. Once we slipped past the battle in progress, we advanced further, only to be stopped on occasion by the Pokémon living the sewers. Thankfully, the shiny Venipede and Litwick were there to explain to them that we were there to deal with 'infestation of foreign invaders.' The Pokémon then allowed us through without any contest and even helped guide us to where the 'foreign invaders' were at. The first batch we hit were trying to tunnel under the local gym.

"What the Houndour do you think you brats are doing here?" demanded the leader of the group trying to tunnel into the gym. "Brats like you should stay out of the affairs of grownups."

'Sorry, but when an infestation of foreign invaders comes to strip Pokémon of their homes, they tend fight back,' shot back Victini. 'And guess what? You're infestation to we're going to kick out of Unova.'

"Why you little rat!" snarled the lead grunt as he hefted a Pokéball and glared my silly little buddy.

Victini, however, didn't take being called a rat too kindly.

All of us in the party, both human and Pokémon alike could see a sinister dark aura behind Victini as he slowly raised his head up and said in a sickly sweet telepathic tone, 'Gentlemen, that was the worst mistake you could ever make.'

'_Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that Victini's tone,_' Anna's Clefairy said as she hid behind Anna's shoulder.

'_Yes, Brother Victini does sound menacing right now,_' agreed Manaphy as he clung to me in terror.

"If you think some rat Pokémon is going to intimidate Team Rocket, you've got another thing coming to you," the lead Rocket grunt said as there was a slight crack in his voice. "But we can always take you for ourselves."

The Rocket Grunt then produced an all too familiar and sinister looking Pokéball. It was the same one that apparently two Pokémon thieves intended to use to try and capture Virizion with.

"I was hoping to use this on the gym leader's strongest Pokémon," began the Rocket grunt, "But I'll use it on you instead."

'_Sorry, but no evil humans are allowed to catch Pokémon here,_' said the shiny Litwick as she used a Flamethrower attack and allowed a Zubat to use its Steel Wing to destroy it.

With the Dark Ball destroyed, it was time for us to strike back. I certainly wanted to fight back and I grabbed the Quick Ball which held my shiny Tallow. The Rocket Grunt was quick produce his own Pokéball and was ready to battle himself.

"I guess I'll have to put you meddling brats down myself," snarled the Rocket Grunt. "Go Drowzee, time to put those who get in Team Rocket's way down like the rats they are!"

'R_eady... Master,_' acknowledged Drowzee.

"Go Taillow!" I exclaimed as I threw my Quick Ball and let her out to fight.

"Alright Drowzee, use Shadow Ball on that little runt of a bird Pokémon," ordered the Grunt.

'_As you wish Master,_" acknowledged Drowzee as it readied the Ghost-type attack it knew.

"Taillow, use your Air Cutter attack," I countered as I wasn't going to let the Rocket grunt get the best of me. "Use your Aerial Ace as a follow up too."

The grunt however just smiled something that I saw right away and knew that he already had another attack ready, and I knew I had to keep on my guard. "Now Drowzee use Disable on that weakling of a Pokémon!" When I heard that from the grunt I felt angry at how he insulted my Pokémon like that, all I want to do was show him just how wrong he was about my Taillow.

"Alright Taillow lets show him we are not weak." I called as Taillow gave out a cry understanding we would both show this grunt.

Taillow let out a battle cry as she charged at the Rocket grunt. The Rocket Grunt was taken aback by our determination to win the fight, but he still wasn't going to make things easy for us.

"Drowzee, Poison Gas attack," lashed the Rocket grunt.

"Dodge and use Aerial Ace with Steel Wing," I countered back.

Taillow gave a nod of understanding as her wings began to began to glow with a metallic coating and she she charged at Drowzee with confounding speed that the Hypnosis Pokémon couldn't keep up with. My shiny Taillow struck the opposing Drowzee hard, knocking it out. The Rocket grunt then gritted his teeth as he recalled his fallen Drowzee and then reached for his next Pokéball. Then he threw his next Pokéball out and releasing his next Pokémon for battle.

"Alright Oddish, let's go, we gotta protect the boss," the Rocket grunt said in desperation to his Oddish.

"Alright Taillow, come back," I said to my shiny Pokémon as I recalled her back to her Quick Ball and then looked to Victini.

Before I could tell Victini to jump into battle, he gave me a slight as he said, 'I know what you're thinking and I'm all over it May.'

Victini floated over and took a fighting stance ready to fight the Rocket grunt and his Kanto Weed Pokémon.

"Oddish use Poisonpowder to poison that little rat," the Rocket grunt viciously ordered his Grass-type Pokémon.

'_Yes master,_' acknowledged the Oddish as it sent a purple power towards Victini.

'Sorry but that's not gonna happen,' Victini countered back before using his Searing Shot attack and igniting the powder. 'Now then for a proper counterattack. May?'

"You read my mind Victini," I replied happily with a slight grin on my face. "Now use Flame Charge and Psychic attack together!"

'Ah yes, my favorite combination attack to use,' replied Victini as he used both attacks in perfect sync forming a flaming Arcanine which startled the Oddish.

'_Ahh! Not an Arcanine!_' the little Oddish exclaimed in complete terror before Victini crashed into it causing both Fire and Psychic-type damage to the Grass/Psychic-type Pokémon.

The Rocket Grunt gritted his teeth and I thought that we could hear him grinding his teeth as well. The grunt was quick too shout that he'd get his revenge on the 'little rat that made look like a fool in front of his boss.' As for those of us not in Victini's way, we donned construction hard hats and ducked for cover hoping that my silly little buddy wouldn't hurt us. But we were lucky that Victini had calmed down and I guess that humiliating the Rocket grunt had more than made up for him being called a little rat.

'I believe we were going to find the leader of this foreign infestation, correct?' Victini asked us as he saw us slowly coming out of the cover we hid behind.

Ash, Anna and I each gave Victini a slight nod as we gathered our Pokémon and proceeded onwards to find the leader of Team Rocket. Along the way, Anna and Clefairy had questions for me. They asked me how I came to have Manaphy on my team and what it was like to be a single parent a baby Pokémon like Manaphy. I answered them truthfully that it hasn't be a cakewalk for me. I recounted the time that Harley had tried to take Manaphy from me and how I angrily punched him, forcing Harley to let go of Manaphy. As if having Team Rocket taking to steal my Pokémon from me wasn't bad enough, I had Harley trying to steal my little Manaphy from me.

"I hope that jerk got what he deserved for trying to steal your Pokémon from you," Anna said to me as Clefairy joined Anna on her left shoulder.

'_Yeah, that's pretty bad that someone tried to steal your Pokémon from you,_' agreed Clefairy.

"Well, I plan on reporting him to the officials who run all the Pokémon contests," I informed Anna and Clefairy. "They need to know that Harley is still a cheater and the fact that he tried to humiliate Hilda in the Pinwheel Forest and take her Pokémon from her just proves the point."

'_We're getting close to the leader of the foreign infestation,_' the shiny Litwick reported to us. '_Stay frosty, he might have more minions ready to block your path. Heh, I always wanted to say that despite being a Fire-Type Pokémon._'

'That's kind of a dead giveaway Candle Pokémon,' Victini said to the shiny Litwick. 'But you're a Ghost/Fire Pokémon.'

'_Yes, I'm aware of that Victory Pokémon,_' shot back Litwick. _'But I am still a Fire-Type Pokémon regardless of how the humans classify me and my kind._'

Victini shrugged his shoulders and slightly titled his head as he replied, 'That's true. I guess it really doesn't really matter what are despite how the humans classify us.'

'_It's nice to know that we're on the same page Fire/Psychic __Pokém__on,_' said Litwick. '_Now shall we get back to the task at hand?_'

Victini gave a slight nod to the shiny Litwick and we continued on to search for the leader of Team Rocket's attempt to take over Castellia City. We mostly had encountered some Grimers and a few Rattatas that didn't want to cooperate and help us find the leader of Team Rocket. After about 20 minutes, we finally got to where the leader of Team Rocket was. But as we got there, Team Rocket was already pulling out of Castellia City and the leader gave myself, Ash and his sister Anna a glare for foiling his plans. As he glared at us, the leader then gave an evil smirk like he knew was going to happen to us despite thwarting his plans.

Once Team Rocket left, we went back to regroup with Jonathan and Abelia in hopes that they were doing alright. When we got there, both Jonathan and Abelia and their Pokémon looked like they had been battling hard, even Abelia's shiny Genesect looked exhausted as well. It was then that we saw that Team Plasma had been trying hard to get into the sewers and our friends had been keeping them at bay for quite a while, but weren't going to last much longer. Before anymore members of Team Plasma came to try and enter the sewers, we saw that the flying boat had left from the pier they had docked at. With a sigh of relief, we too collapsed from the tension of the battle.

Later that day Relena gave Jonathan and Abelia an explanation of what was transpiring before they demanded an explanation from her.

"I see, so of some your enemies are coming after you for revenge," summarized Jonathan. "Man, that's really harsh you've accumulated a lot of enemies over the years.

"By the way May, some jerk dressed like a Cacturne tried to get in the sewers and look for you," Abelia told me. "He sounded like he was a gay guy and swore that he was going to humiliate you and Hilda."

I could only let out an annoying sigh as I face-palmed myself when Abelia mentioned that Harley was looking for me and Hilda. Heh, Harley was never one to let go of grudges easily like some girls I know. Abelia had a concerned looked on her face as I explained to her my past... hmm, colorful history with Harley. I did confirm to Abelia that Harley did sound like he was gay. That I said with an evil grin on my face and Abelia laughed with a smile on her face.

The next morning Jonathan and Abelia said their goodbyes to us not before Relena insisted on wanting to have a picture taken of her, myself, Abelia and Hilda, her girlfriends. For the three of us, we couldn't say 'no' to Relena and we joyfully joined Relena in getting a picture taken with her cell phone camera. Relena had a big grin on her face as she pulled us each closer to her and even asked Anna to join the picture too. Relena's Gardevoir, Michiru, took the picture and Relena was quick to share the picture with all of us. Once the picture was taken, Jonathan and Abelia waved goodbye and promised to meet us in Driftveil City later.

I was looking forward to seeing them again, but we had business to take care of here in Castellia City, facing the gym leader and of course the Pokémon contest that was a couple days away.


	18. Chapter 16

Alright Your Highness, it's your turn to do the disclaimer.

Relena: Sparky, you know I hate being called that. But yes, I'll do the disclaimer.

Victini: Hey! When will I get a chance to do the disclaimer?

Relena: [Giving Victini a Butterfree kiss on his cheek] When everyone else has had a turn doing the disclaimer.

Victini: [Blushing] ^_^ Well then, by all means, go right ahead Lady Relena.

Relena: Thank you. Now then, Sparky does not own the Pokémon anime or games. If Sparky owned them there would be drastic changes made. This story is being written purely for entertainment. All of the credit for owning Pokémon goes to Nintendo.

Relena and Victini: Take it away Sparky!

Thanks guys.

16: Costume Contest and Hilda's First Ribbon

Things in Castellia City seemed to returned to normal after the stampede of Venipede and the attempted invasions from both Team Rocket and Team Plasma. It looked as if nothing had happened to disrupt the daily routines of everyday life. As for Ash, his sister and the others who were with us, we were the only ones to the truth about the attempted invasions and we resolved to keep it that way. The people of Castellia City didn't need to know how close they were to having their city turned into a battlefield. We were looking forward to getting the invasion out of our mind and focus on what we came here for and the Pokémon contest was the perfect way to forget about it.

'So May, who are you going to use in this contest this time?' Victini asked me. 'Are going to use me so I can appeal to the ladies or you going to use Brother Manaphy so he can give that innocent child-like appeal?'

I thought about what Victini asked me. Then I thought about what Pokémon Relena was going to use in the contest and she had said she was going to use Katsumi in the contest and it was clear to me that using Victini wasn't best idea and I... I actually wanted to share that innocent child-like appeal to the other girls and see if they would fall for that. But then I looked to the other Pokémon I had with me. I had not just Victini and Manaphy, but Deerling, the shiny Taillow and the shiny Venipede I had on my team. The shiny Venipede had wanted to come with me, feeling that I could help her become much stronger. But just because she wanted to come with me didn't mean she was going to come quietly. For a little shiny Venipede, she was very strong. Deerling had problems in dealing with her and I couldn't blame her. That shiny Venipede had the type advantage both ways as a Bug/Poison Pokémon. I had forgotten that Grass Pokémon were weak against both Bug and Poison Pokémon. Poor Deerling got knocked out and Venipede ate up her Oran Berry was holding on to thanks to it's Bug Bite attack. Manaphy was the one who managed to defeat the female shiny Venipede and I caught it in a Nest Ball. I was happy that I got a shiny Pokémon from the Unova region and two shiny altogether. As for my fiancee, he was a bit jealous that I had two shiny Pokémon. Knowing Ash, he was going to try to look very hard to find another shiny Pokémon to add to the Pokémon he already had.

About a couple hours later, Relena had someone coming to meet up with her from her home region. We went with Relena to the Prime Pier as we saw a woman in her late twenties to early thirties being accompanied by two Pokémon behind her and on her right shoulder. The Pokémon on her shoulder had two bows on its left ear and its neck. It also had cream colored fur with pink paws, ears and tail and had two beautifully colored ribbons. The Pokémon behind her was a shiny Tyranitar as it had on a pair of glasses on its face and carried a clipboard in its left hand. I found it kinda weird to see a Pokémon needing glasses and carrying a clipboard, but then again Relena had told me that one of her many sisters was a fashion designer and had a Tyranitar as her business partner.

'_Okay so the modeling agency wants the new line ready for modeling in Nimbasa City,_' the Tyranitar said to the woman it was following.

"Did they say when it needs to be ready, Argon?" asked the woman as she looked to her Tyranitar.

'_We have a few weeks before Elesa's ready to model our creations,_' answered the Tyranitar named Argon.

"Jess, can't you stop worrying about your fashion designing business for a while?" Relena asked the woman with a slight grin as she went to hug her.

The woman had a grin of her own as she went over to hug Relena and embraced her warmly. I could tell that she was really pretty. She was very tan and had china blue hair tied up in a Ponyta tail and a dress to match her hair color, brown eyes and glasses on her face. Relena and the woman talked with each other while we stood there for ten minutes in silence until Relena looked to us and had a sweatdrop as she was embarrassed that she forgot about us.

"Guys, I'd like you my sister Jessica Kaiou," Relena said to the group. "She's a fashion designer in the Atlantica Islands and also makes custom made clothes for me and a few friends.

"Jess, these are my friends I was telling you about," Relena then said to her older sister. "That's Ash Ketchum, May Haruka, Hilda Touka and Hilbert Touya."

"Hmm, you have a nice group of friends here," observed Jessica as she looked at us and then her attention was suddenly focused me as I began to look uncomfortable.

It was then that Relena's sister began to slowly approach me with some dark aura behind her. The dark aura behind Relena's sister was enough for me to try and run away. Relena tried to warn me that running away that was an idea that would end badly for me. Unfortunately, I didn't listen and was captured by the fast Dark/Ice-type evolved from of Sneasel belonging to Relena's sister, Jessica. Ash was quite stunned to see me getting caught drug away to the nearest clothing store and the other two girls, Hilda and Misty were also captured too.

"Oh no, that certainly won't do," Jessica said to me as I tried on one of her outfits she had designed. "It doesn't bring out your sex appeal. You need an outfit that says 'I'm the Princess of Hoenn and I look sexy too.'"

I was then shoved back into a changing room and given different clothes. She had tossed over a tight black sleeveless shirt, a white sleeveless vest, denim cargo pants that went to about a half inch past my knees, white shoes with a pink Pokéball on them and a white bandana with a pink Pokéball on it. I had put on the designed outfit and then modeled it in front of a mirror. The black sleeveless shirt definitely left my stomach exposed but it certainly wrapped around every curve of my body and the white jacket certainly helped too. Once I stepped out of the changing room, I showed it off to Jessica and her two Pokémon.

'_Wonderful, spectacular,_' replied Jessica's little Pokémon on her shoulder. '_It most certainly brings out her sex appeal. Not to mention that the outfit does say 'I'm the Princess of Hoenn and I look sexy for the part too.'_'

"Yes those are my thoughts exactly, Asami," agreed Jessica as she studied my new outfit. "What do you think Argon?"

'_Yes, I agree with my Fairy-type counterpart,_' answered the shiny Armor Pokémon. '_It does bring out her sex appeal and I believe her boyfriend will be all over her._'

Jessica chuckled at the Tyranitar's last statement and she gave a slight nod of agreement. I was glad that Jessica and her two Pokémon though that I looked sexier then before. But what fascinated me was the Pokémon on Jessica's right shoulder. Argon had mentioned that the his counterpart was a Fairy-type Pokémon and I was curious to learn about the Fairy-type on Jessica's shoulder.

"Um, what kind of Pokémon do you have on your shoulder?" I asked Jessica.

"Oh, you mean Asami?" asked Jessica as she looked to me and then to the Pokémon on her shoulder. "She's known as Sylveon, the Intertwining Pokémon. She's a Fairy-type Pokémon of the Kalos region."

"She's a really cute Pokémon you've got," I said to Jessica as she shooed me back into the changing room. "How did you get Sylveon?"

"I was given Asami as a birthday gift from my then boyfriend," explained Jessica.

"What do you mean 'then boyfriend'?" I asked Jessica as I was now curious. "Are you engaged or married? Or did you two break up?"

"I'm a married woman," answered Jessica with a grin on her face. "I even gave birth to a daughter a couple years ago."

"Congratulations to you," I said to Jessica

"Anyway, you were saying something about getting your Sylveon," Misty had said from the dressing room next to me.

"Right," Jessica said sheepishly. "Asami had evolved into Sylveon because she had known the Charm attack and in Kalos, Charm is considered to be a Fairy-type attack."

'_Not to mention I was well-loved and very affectionate with Jessica too,_' Asami added, putting her two cents into the conversation.

"Now then Misty, I would like to at least evaluate your outfit and see if you need any improvements," Jessica said as she and her Sylveon waited for Misty to come out.

I wasn't able to see what was going on between Jessica and Misty, but I was able to hear them.

"Hmm, you have an interesting outfit here," Jessica said to Misty. "This outfit looks like it's more for working out or going to the beach, but you've made it into an outfit for traveling.

I guess Jessica was going over Misty's outfit, the same she outfit I saw her wear when I first met her before and after the Hoenn League. I had to agree with Jessica that Misty's outfit was interesting. I could only guess that Jessica was leaving no stone unturned with our outfits.

"I don't think your outfit needs any improvement," I heard Jessica tell Misty. "It definitely brings out the sex appeal you have and I think guys would be all over you. I can especially tell that the swimsuit goes well with the jacket and skin-tight shorts you're wearing."

"Wha? Misty's being wearing a swimsuit the whole time?" Hilda asked as she and I both poked our heads over to see Jessica as she was finishing up her evaluation of Misty's outfit.

After a few more hours of evaluations and suggested changes to our wardrobes, Jessica decided to finish up her wardrobe evaluations the next day. I know Hilda was glad because Jessica showed no mercy to her and I'd rather not go into detail to what happened. Just know that Hilda was glad to get away from Jessica. As we checked into a hotel for the night, we saw an ad for the contest in Castellia City and noticed who was going to hosting the contest. She appeared to be the gym leader of Nimbasa City itself and made an important announcement.

"_For all of our excited contestants, this contest will not only be a contest with your Pokémon,_" began the gym leader, "_but also a contest to show your best contest outfits. I guess you say that the Pokémon contest will be a fashion show as well. The winner of the fashion show will have their outfit become part of my new fashion line._"

"Uh oh, I know Jessica will be making scribbles like an maniacal genius trying to either perfect someone's contest outfit or create one from scratch," Relena said with a sweatdrop on her forehead.

All of the female members of the group gave a slight nod of agreement to that. We had only met Relena's sister five hours ago and she had terrorized me, Misty and Hilda and it made us uncomfortable to even be near her. The only good thing that came out of that was seeing Jessica's Fairy-type evolution of her Eevee, Asami. Relena tried to assure us that even though Jessica was like that at times, she was a caring and devoted sister to her during hard times and was still that way to her. During the night Jessica was already drawing new sketches of new contest outfits or modifying existing contest outfits as I noticed my contest outfit was missing. Relena had told me not to worry; that Jessica was probably modifying it and meant well. Relena even added that we might be thanking her in the end with the designs she would come up with. Hilda and I gave her a slight nod and then went to be with our boyfriends.

Later that night, Ash and Hilbert told us that they were dropping out of participating in contests, despite that Ash won a ribbon himself. Both Hilda and I were disappointed to hear that as they had signed us up for the Pokémon League. But then again, we signed them up for the Pokémon contests without their permission. Hilda was a bit upset with Hilbert about backing out of the Pokémon Contests, but I understood where Ash was coming from. Contests weren't really his style, gym battles were where he felt that was where he truly belonged. As for me, I decided to continue battling for gym badges as I wanted to get even a brief glimpse into Ash's world, if but for a moment. Misty had gone off by herself and was exploring Castellia City. Ash and I were doing some exploring of our own and found an institute Fennel and her two Psychic-type Pokémon were studying some place called the Dream World. She said it was a hidden world where there were Pokémon with hidden abilities and some could learn attacks that they never could learn in the real world or have abilities that they could never have here as well. The researcher asked us if we wanted to help her with an experiment. Curious as I was, I wanted to try it out and Victini eagerly volunteered for the experiment. Fennel tucked Victini into the bed and Victini began to dream. On the monitor, we could see all that Victini was dreaming about... besides pretty girls and his mate Katsumi. It was rather interesting to see that Victini turned out to be quite the explorer and had on a cute little pirate-like outfit, wearing a white sleeveless shirt and a black sleeveless jacket over the shirt. With a slight grin on my face, I had a an idea of what I wanted to do for the Castellia City Pokémon contest. I was about to reach for my cell phone when Fennel spotted me pulling out my cell phone.

"I'm sorry, but I ask that you put your cell phone away for now, please," requested Fennel. "It's imperative that the Pokémon's rem cycle isn't disturbed by any other devices."

'Oh goodie, a Snivy is here,' Victini said in his sleep. 'I think May would like you to join us. Sure, I'll help you look for a little lost Ralts.'

Fennel was writing down notes as she watched my silly little buddy's dreams. She was really fascinated by what she was seeing. I too was curious by what was transpiring. It seemed that Snivy was looking for the Ralts in a haunted house. Once the little Ralts was found, it seemed that the Snivy was interested in tagging along with Victini and began to follow him. Within a half hour, Victini seemed to have gathered a lot of items and was exchanging items he felt that we didn't need and even harvested berries from a garden at the house that was there.

After 15 more minutes, Victini was done and found two Pokémon that wanted to join him in the real world. The female Snivy he found and an Oshawott as well. The two Dream World Pokémon and the items that he wanted bring back into the real world teleported away and Victini crawled into the bed of dream house, falling asleep and then waking up back in the research lab.

Victini yawned and said, 'Boy, that was quite a nap. I sure had quite an interesting dream. I dreamt that I was exploring a strange new world and met a Snivy and an Oshawott that wanted so badly to come here to the real world.'

'Wow, I can't believe that you got the same Snivy and Oshawott that I dreamt about,' Victini said to me after we returned from an area in the center of the Unova region called the Entralink. 'I think I'm also surprised that you also got all those different Pokéballs and items I gathered in the Dream World too.'

"I agree with you there," I said to my Victory Pokémon. "Now I have my own Snivy and Oshawott to train for contests and gym battles."

'Well you know that Brother Manaphy and I will certainly make them feel welcome in our team,' Victini said with a confident grin on his face.

'_Did some say that they got an Oshawott for themselves?_' asked Ash's Oshawott as he eagerly popped out of his Pokéball, eager to meet the new Oshawott that joined the team.

"You can meet her later, Oshawott," I said to Ash's Oshawott before Ash recalled Oshawott back to his Pokéball.

"I still wanted to take on the gym leader and get my badge," Ash moaned to me after kept him from challenging the gym of this city.

"Don't you think that the others would want to watch you take on the gym leader?" I asked Ash sweetly. "I mean the others would to know what kind of Pokémon the gym leader has."

I was quick to change to change topics as I wanted Ash's opinion on my new outfit that Jessica designed for me. I know for certain that Jessica got one thing right, Ash was certainly all over me when he saw my new outfit and even said that I looked sexy too. Tee hee, it was the sweetest thing Ash said to me. And we would have a surprise that would greatly benefit everyone in the group from Relena's sister, Jessica. An hour later, we met with Jessica as she pulled out Pokéballs with a confident yet gentle smile on her face.

"You're giving us new Pokémon?" Hilbert asked Jessica.

"Yes," answered Jessica. "You guys will need new Pokémon to tackle the rest of the Unova League and I hear they're pretty tough."

"Alright!" exclaimed Hilda with Cheshire grin on her face. "What kind of Pokémon are we getting?"

"Pokemon from the Kalos region," Jessica answered Hilda. "There is a new Pokémon type from that region, it's called the Fairy-type. They're nature spirits that are weak against Poison and Steel-type Pokémon."

"Yeah, that sounds about right for what I know about fairies," Hilda said as she dug into her memories of myths about fairies.

"But they do have a complete advantage over Dragon-type Pokémon, along with Fighting and Dark Pokémon," continued Jessica. "Bug Pokémon also don't have an advantage over Fairy-types either."

"Cool," said Hilbert with a slight grin. "I can't wait to see what kind of Pokémon that we get."

Jessica gave a slight nod as she handed the first Pokémon to me and said, "Relena told me your first Pokémon was a Fire-type starter. I thought maybe you'd like to have a Fire-type starter Pokémon from Kalos. This is the Fox Pokémon, a shiny Pokémon named Fennekin. This Pokémon has it's Dream World ability Magician. This let's Fennekin steal the held item of the opposing Pokémon regardless of the move it uses."

"Oh man, you're really lucky, May," Ash said to me as I had a grin on my face.

Jessica then looked to Ash next and said, "You were a difficult person to find a Pokémon for. But I finally found a Pokémon I thought you might like."

"I like all Pokémon," Ash said to Jessica with a confident grin on his face. "I haven't met a Pokémon that I don't like."

Jessica looked to Ash and gave a slight nod to him acknowledging his answer to her as she continued, "And that was the answer I was hoping you'd say. The Pokémon I'm giving you is a good Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon from the Kalos region called Pumpkinboo, the Pumpkin Pokémon. Like your fiancee's Pokémon, it is also a shiny Pokémon too. But I think you'll be in for quite a surprise once I give you this Pokémon."

Jessica then gave the new Pokémon to Ash only for it to evolve after giving it to Ash. The new Pokémon grew taller, had a pumpkin at it's base and had thin figure coming out of the pumpkin with purple hair and a spike at the top of it's hair protruding from the top. The new Pokémon looked at Jessica then looked to my fiancee and back to Jessica.

'_Is this boy to be my trainer?_' the Pokémon asked Jessica. Jessica gave it no verbal answer but, a slight nod of acknowledgment.

The shiny Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon then happily hugged Ash as it said to him, '_Greetings to you new my trainer. I am known as Gourgeist, the Pumpkin Pokémon from the Kalos region. But you can call me by the name I was given by my last trainer. She called me Ayame, which means 'iris flower'._'

"Alright then, welcome to the team Ayame," Ash as he extended his hand out to Gourgeist, I mean Ayame.

Jessica then looked to Hilda and Hilbert and said, "I originally was going to get Pokémon for my baby sister and her two friends, but when I heard that you two joined up, I made the extra effort to find you both of you Pokémon of your own. You seem to be interested in the new Fairy-type from the Kalos region and I just happen to have another Sylveon. She's a shiny Sylveon too and has the Dream World ability known as Pixilate. Normal-type moves will become stronger by 30% and turn into Fairy-type moves as well. She knew a Fairy-type attack like her mother Asami when she was born."

Hilda had a very big grin on her face as Asami said to her, '_Jessica almost considered giving me to you. But I am her other business partner like Argon and she wasn't going to let one of her business partners leave._'

"This is gonna be the best contest ever," Hilda said as her grin got even bigger and then looked to Jessica. "Think you could make an outfit for me that will match the colors of my new Pokémon that I'll be using in the Castellia City contest?"

Jessica also had a grin on her face as liked hearing Hilda's question and had her Tyranitar hand her measuring tape so she could take Hilda's measurements. At first it was a little weird how Jessica's Pokémon knew what she was thinking, but then again Pokémon do act like their trainers sometimes. As Jessica was taking Hilda's measurements, her Tyranitar wrote down the measurements that Jessica called out him. Once Jessica was done taking Hilda's measurements, she then produced the last Pokéball for Hilbert and said, "I was told that you're known as the Hero of Truth and have two Fire-type Pokémon, Pignite and the legendary Pokémon Reshiram. So for you, I have the Water-type starter from Kalos called Froakie, the Bubble Frog Pokémon. It too has a Dream World ability and is shiny like the other Pokémon."

"Sweet," replied Hilbert as he received the Dive Ball from Jessica. "But what's its Dream World ability?"

"It's called Protean," answered Jessica. "Froakie's type will change to the type of that of the move it's using in battle and won't change unless recalled."

"Nice," replied Hilbert.

"If anyone competing in the Pokémon contest needs their outfits adjusted or new outfit created, please tell me now because I need to know," Jessica informed us.

For a moment thought about what I was going to do. My usual contest outfit looked great on me, but here in Unova, I wanted to try something new this time. I looked to Manaphy and gave myself a slight nod as I knew what I wanted from Jessica to do for a contest outfit for me.

"Do you think you could make an outfit similar to my last contest outfit, but with the Manaphy's colors?" I asked Jessica.

Jessica looked to me and studied me, resting her chin on her left hand trying to visualize what she could do. After consulting her smart phone, apparently with pictures of me wearing my contest outfit, she made mental pictures and looked to me as she answered, "I have just the right idea on how I'm gonna create you new contest outfit. Just leave it to me and Argon, we'll make you look like a star."

Once Jessica was done explaining what she was going to do with Hilda's and my new contest outfit, she went somewhere that we couldn't know about as she apparently needed to be somewhere where she and Argon could work 'their stroke of genius,' as they called their work. Hilda, Relena and I got our Pokémon ready to for the contest. We knew that the contest was a single performance with a double battle so we had to choose accordingly. With the Pokédex upgrades we got from Jessica, things were going to be a little bit easier for us. Hilda certainly was going to have to be careful and hope that her opponents didn't have Pokémon with either Poison or Steel-type attacks as that's what Fairy-type Pokémon were weak against. I decided to get acquainted with my new shiny Pokémon and went into the Castellia Sewers to train her up. With Victini and Manaphy acting as backup for Fennekin, my shiny Fox Pokémon felt safe.

As this was going on, I noticed a Pokemon in the shadows and decided to investigate though I felt rather nervous about this but was glad that I have Victini, Fennekin and Manaphy staying close to me, which in a way made me feel a little be safer. Swallowing hard, I made my way in the direction that I saw the unknown Pokemon was headed and hoping that it wasn't a vicious kind like some of the ones back when I was traveling with Ash in Hoenn, then again things have changed for the better since that time so I might not need to worry. Surprisingly when I eventually caught up with the Pokemon, I saw that it was the exact opposite of what I originally expected, so I decided to check my Pokédex to see what I was facing.

_Cottonee, the Cotton Puff Pokemon. Cottonee shoots cotton to distract its opponent when attacked, and travels around wherever the blowing wind carries it._

I was surprised by the sight of the small Pokemon in question and found it to be rather cute, especially as there didn't seem to be any trainers with it so I'm debating the idea of capturing it or not then again the look it was giving me does seem pretty cute, so hey, why not? "Alright, let's do this…" I said, though before I could send a Pokemon out to battle with the Cottonee, something else got our complete attention.

"Cottonee!" came a lovely female voice, causing me to turn around and see that a girl with dark purple hair, donning a red and green kimono with a small bit of yellow to complete the look, she looked rather relieved to see that the Cottonee in question was alright but there was another Pokemon with her that I wasn't too familiar with so I looked it up in Dexette to learn more.

_Whimsicott, the Windveiled Pokemon and the evolved form of Cottonee. Whimsicott can pass through the tiniest cracks like the wind leaving fluffy white puffs in its wake. Whimsicott, was classified as a Grass-type Pokémon, but with the recent discovery of the Fairy-type, it has reclassified as a Grass/Fairy-type_

"No way…" I was rather amazed by this and turned my attention back towards the girl, realizing that the Cottonee that I had found was hers all along which in a way made I smiled a bit at this reunion. "So I take it that little guy belongs to you doesn't it?"

"Yes she does but to be honest, I was looking after her since she hatched from an egg… she's Whimsicott's daughter" she said in an elegant tone, then realized that the two of us had never met before and mentally kicked herself in the head for that. "Where are my manners, I'm Jeanette Fisher… I come from Crimson City."

"I'm May Haruka, I'm from Petalberg City in the Hoenn Region and just earlier I was training for the upcoming Pokemon Contest as well as our next Gym Battle here in the Unova region" I introduced myself to the other girl, then saw Fennekin, Manaphy and Victini interacting with her Cottonee and Whimsicott which caused Jeanette to smile brightly.

"What a coincidence, I've been preparing to take part in the contest myself" said Jeanette, rather surprised at first to hear that I would be competing in it and to be honest, I was just as surprised as she was though part of me was looking forward to facing her if we ever make it to the next part of the contest, what I didn't know was that she had another thought in mind that I was unaware of. "You wouldn't mind if I join you in training, it seemed rather boring that I hadn't had someone to interact with besides just Whimsicott and Cottonee plus the three Pokemon you have with you are actually kinda cute."

I decided to think this one through, I was planning to train by myself to better get prepared for the Pokemon Contest, but I found that Jeanette seemed to be someone who I can trust but to be fair… I didn't want to make the same mistake I made when I first met that bastard Harley back at Hoenn and things were rushing in my mind over the times I went up against him, eventually a let out a small sigh of defeat while smiling. "Alright, you can join us in the training" I told her, causing her to beam brightly at me and bowed down a bit. "I could use someone to spar with before the contest."

Jeanette nodded her head. "Yeah me too" she told me, a smirk forming on her face as she glanced at her Cottonee and then back towards me and my Pokemon. _ '_It looks as if I've found someone who might be a worthy trainer to look after Cottonee though I'll have to test her to see if I did choose right.' It was then that her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something holding her hand and looked down to see that it was none other than my Victini.

Needless to say, I was rather surprised as was Manaphy and Fennekin when Victini gave that familiar grin on his face whenever he met a cute girl and is kissing Jeanette's right hand, believing that it might just be his lucky day. Typical of my silly little buddy, he was quick to leave my left shoulder and

approach Jeanette as he grabbed her left hand gingerly and kissed it.

'I must say that beauty is very rare nowadays,' Victini said with a small smile on his face. 'Your beauty is like a rare and delicate flower that's nurtured over time.'

"Well, that's... very sweet of you," Jeanette said to Victini as she was blushing.

'_Mama, why does Brother Victini always have to hit on the pretty girls?_' Manaphy asked me.

"I have no clue Manaphy," I answered my 'son' before planting a gentle kiss on his forehead which he always loved. "But I think that he and Brock would get along well together."

'_Except that Brother Victini always gets affection from the pretty girls,_' Manaphy said to me.

I giggled and gave a slight nod in agreement with Manaphy. Victini always got affection from the girls he hit on unlike Brock who would always use cheesy pickup lines to woo the pretty girls. Jeanette did give Victini a peck kiss on his forehead in return for the praise he had for her. For Victini, he blushed as Jeanette give him the affection he wanted from her. Jeanette then looked to my new Pokémon that I got with curiosity.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Jeanette asked me. "I've never seen such a Pokémon like that before."

"Oh, she's called Fennekin," I answered Jeanette. "She's a Fire-type starter from a different region called Kalos."

"Kalos, eh?" asked Jeanette as she studied my shiny Fox Pokémon. "Hmm, it looks like I have a new region to go visit. I might've heard rumors about a different region being home to a recently discovered type of Pokémon."

'May, check your Pokédex on this lovely lady's two Pokémon,' Victini suggested to me. 'I thought I heard it say that Cottonee and Whimsicott were both part Fairy-type Pokémon.'

I got out my Pokédex again and checked the entries for Cottonee and Whimsicott and confirmed that they were indeed classified as Fairy-type Pokémon. I looked to Jeanette and showed her the entries of Cottonee and Whimsicott from my upgraded Pokédex. Jeanette looked at both entries and saw that had two Fairy-type Pokémon all along. After making the discovery, Jeanette and I then began to do a bit of sparring and training of our Pokémon in the sewer and what appeared to be a secret area in Castellia City. It had a few trees and plenty of Pokémon who were all too willing to accommodate our request to spar with our Pokémon and help us both with the contest coming up. As we trained, I had a few times where I had to switch out Fennekin before she could be defeated by the opposing Pokémon and both she and I began to become real close. She even was able to evolve into her next stage evolved form. When Fennekin evolved, she grew into a biped fox with red fur coming out of her ears, the majority of her fur was purple except for her legs and also the tip of her tail and had a stick in her tail as well.

"Braixen," said the my newly evolved Pokémon.

"Oh wow," I said happily as I saw my newly Pokémon. "Now I know you and your brother Manaphy will get along well."

'_I hope so May,_' said my newly evolved Fire-type Pokémon. '_And I am called Braixen, the Fox Pokémon._'

I pulled out my Pokédex and looked at Braixen's entry in my upgraded Pokédex.

'Braixen, the Fox Pokémon and the evolved form of Fennekin,' chirped my Pokédex. 'Braixen will use the twig stuck in its tail to signal allies. The twig will also be set alight from the friction in it's tail.'

'_This might be an odd request from me,_' began Braixen, '_but do you happen to have an Everstone? I do not wish to evolve any further._'

'_What? Why would you not want to evolve further, Sister Braixen?_' asked Manaphy.

Braixen studied Manaphy for a moment and thought of an answer as she answered, looking to both Victini and Manaphy, '_For now, just consider it as a personal preference, Brother Manaphy, Brother Victini._'

Both Victini and Manaphy gave Braixen a slight nod as Victini looked to me and asked, 'Do you have an Everstone'

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that I have an Everstone on me right now," answered Victini and Braixen. "We'll check later when we get back to the hotel."

"Ahem," said Jeanette, getting our attention as she had remained silent during our conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jeanette," I apologized to Jeanette.

"It's fine," Jeanette said calmly. "But I think I am done training for now. Shall we head back?"

I gave a slight nod to Jeanette and we exited the secret hiding place and went back the sewers to the exit. As we got out of the sewer, Jeanette looked left hand and saw my engagement ring. She was interested in it and asked, "So who's the guy going to marry you?"

I gave a big grin on my face and confidently answered, "Ash Ketchum. I'm going to marry Ash Ketchum."

Jeanette had a surprised look on her face as I told her that I was going to marry Ash. I guess she must've thought that maybe Ash wasn't the type to marry or date a girl. Nonetheless, she was happy to hear that I was marrying Ash and said that she thought we were meant to be together. We made our way to back to hotel, only to find that Jessica was now terrorizing Ash's sister Anna.

"_You need a complete overhaul on your wardrobe,_" Jessica said to Anna from Anna's and my room we were sharing.

"_But I've been wearing this outfit for years and no one's said anything about it,_" protested Anna.

"_Come to me my pretty. Mwahahaha!_" Jessica exclaimed like a maniacal genius as we heard the door lock.

"That would be Relena's sister," I said with a blank expression on my face as we both heard Anna scream in terror.

"Wait, you know Relena Kaiou as well?" Jeanette asked me in surprise.

After a couple of hours, Anna came down to the hotel lobby wearing a new outfit. She wore a red spaghetti strap shirt with a button-up black vest over the shirt, a blue mini skirt, a Water Stone necklace, black socks and red and white tennis shoes. Anna at first looked uncomfortable with the new outfit, but then she got some comments from guys who said she was a real hottie and her self-confidence went up a bit.

"Looking really good Anna," I said to Ash's sister.

'Yes, it certainly gives you the beauty you were meant to have,' Victini said as he held Anna's hands gingerly.

Anna was blushing profusely with the words that Victini said. I have to admit that he is very good at giving the ladies compliments of their beauty and making observations. I don't think that Brock could come up with lines that my silly little buddy can come up with. I know that it's kinda mean to compare my friend Brock to a Pokémon with the ability to use Telepathy.

"Uh... thank you," stammered Anna as she looked to Victini.

But before Victini could continue his flattering of Anna, something hit him with what appeared to be a Brick Break attack to his left hip causing him to yelp in surprise and let go of Anna's hands and his eyes went wide as dinner plates in shock. Then the assailant made themselves appear and was a very upset Katsumi, Relena's female Victini and my Victini's mate.

'_You should know better than to flirt with human females,_' Katsumi said to Victini as she was quick to grab Victini by his left ear and start pulling him away.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Victini in pain as he was drug away from Anna as she was still blushing from Victini's flattery.

'_You and I are going to have a serious chat later,_' said a very upset Katsumi.

Me and the other girls just sweat drops on our foreheads as we watched Katsumi drag Victini away.

'_I think Brother Victini and Katsumi have problems like a married human couple,_' observed Manaphy.

"That they do, Manaphy," I agreed with my 'son.'

The boys had apparently gone somewhere to do some training of their own. They managed to walk past Katsumi and Victini as the two Victory Pokémon floated past them and Victini still moaning in pain.

"Okay, who was Victini hitting on this time?" Ash asked me, Anna and Hilda before noticing Jeanette.

"He was trying to get affection from Anna," Hilda answered Ash as she pointed to Anna, who's blushing was going down.

Ash sighed in annoyance when heard that Victini was hitting on his older twin sister. He wasn't too thrilled when Victini hit on Anna the first time. It was then that Jeanette cleared her throat to get Ash's attention. Ash saw Jeanette and was quite surprised to see her in Unova. He met with her and chatted with her for a bit. Before we decided to turn in for the night and rest, Jessica and her Tyranitar came down with new outfits for me and Hilda.

"I decided to redesign your original contest outfit and ditch the headgear you had as part of the original outfit," Jessica said to me. "It also forms to your girlish figure as well. Ash will like it, I know he will."

I gave a slight grin to Jessica and nodded in agreement as I hoped that Ash would certainly notice me and how cute I would look. …... Maybe I was hoping a little bit that he'd think I was drop dead sexy. Once I received my new contest outfit, it was Hilda's turn to get hers. For Hilda, Jessica made a black one shoulder evening gown that had electric blue stripes run across the dress diagonally from the direction of the shoulder with electric blue pumps. Hilda looked to Jessica as she explained, "Relena told me that you were discovered to be the Heroine of Ideals and that you obtained your ancestor's Dragon-type Pokémon, Zekrom. So I decided to make a contest outfit that matched your Dragon-type Pokémon perfectly. The outfit also helps to improve your figure too."

"Typical of Jessica," Relena said with a grin. "Her clothing line almost always focuses around sex appeal."

"You know it," Jessica agreed as she was standing behind her baby sister. "The idea of adding the electric blue stripes was Asami's idea. She and Naomi, my female Weavile also designed another outfit in case you were thinking about going into the contest with your new shiny Sylveon."

The shiny Sinnoh Dark/Ice-type Pokémon then gave Hilda another bag that carried another dress and a few other items. This dress was a baby blue spaghetti strap dress with a slightly darker shade of blue, some Maya blue as part of the outline of the dress. There were sandals had salmon pink straps on them and Hilda also had received a pink tourmaline choker with the outfit too. It was a little bit too much for Hilda to take in, as I think she was trying calculate how money she would have to pay Jessica. I felt uneasy too about receiving such lavish gifts at first, just like Hilda was feeling at that moment when she was given both dresses

"Don't worry about paying me back with money," Jessica said calmly. "I have a different way you and May can pay me back for the outfits."

"And what way is that?" Hilda asked Jessica nervously.

"I want you and May to model the outfits that I design," answered Jessica, "for some of the fashion shows here in Unova and possibly even in the Atlantica Islands."

Hilda and I looked to each other and gave each other a slight nod in agreement. Being a model didn't sound like a bad idea, actually it sounded like a good idea. Hilda then regained her self-confidence as both her and I agreed to be Jessica's models.

Jessica gave a slight nod of approval as she was happy to have me and Hilda as her first two human employees. That comment made us a little nervous and we both wondered why she didn't have other humans as employees; then both of us wondered if it was because Jessica employed Pokémon or her critiques of another person's clothes... or both. Jessica then asked us to try on our contest outfits in the contest that would be going on tomorrow. Hilda was the first one to try on her contest outfits. After the little show was done, we finally went to bed and every couple was quick to cuddle with their significant other. As for Victini and Katsumi, love was certainly in the air that night as it was a bit obvious that both of them were breeding with each other. Victini told me that Katsumi wanted to breed with him. Typical of boys, regardless if they're humans **or** Pokémon, they won't say no to getting intimate with their mates.

"Alright, everyone! Welcome to the Castellia City Pokémon Contest!" exclaimed the event MC as the audience was very loud considering that this contest was also a fashion show as well.

Many people in audience were waiting to see what the contestants would be wearing. The gym leader from Nimbasa City was there as she was judging the outfits worn by all of the contestants. Many of the competitors had outfits that were average. A few of the contestants had some really nice outfits that they designed. Once a competitor from Humilau City was finished, it was Hilda's turn to go out to show off her outfit and her Pokémon. At first she wanted to use Zekrom, but decided against it after the group convinced her it wasn't a good idea to reveal that she owned Zekrom. Showing off Zekrom would've told audience and probably a lot of people from Unova that she was Heroine of Ideals and the people of Unova weren't ready to see who the Heroine of Ideals and the Hero of Truth were just yet. Hilda then put on the shiny Sylveon dress. Hilda sighed as she looked to her shiny Sylveon and asked her shiny Intertwining Pokémon, "Are you ready for this?"

'_Of course I'm ready for this,_' Hilda's shiny Sylveon answered happily. '_I've been waiting to strut my stuff with you. I say let's blow the audience away with our dazzling looks and sexy appeal._'

Hilda then gave her Sylveon a slight nod in agreement as both of them walked to the stage as both of them took a deep breath in sync with each other. Once the MC called out Hilda's name, she and Sylveon both strode to the stage, with Sylveon wrapping her ribbon-like feelers around Hilda's right arm as it appeared that she was trying to help sooth Hilda and forget her nervousness.

"And now we have Hilda Touko with a rather new and very rare Pokémon." the MC said as they saw Hilda and Sylveon.

'_Ready to blow the audience away, Lady Hilda?_' Sylveon asked Hilda.

Hilda was tickled when she heard her new partner calling her Lady Hilda. In fact this was the first time that she was ever called Lady Hilda. The only other title Hilda had known was the Heroine of Ideals. But Hilda was eager to get her first ribbon and with Ash no longer competing in the contests, she had one less thing to worry about. But I was in the contest and I wasn't going to let Hilda waltz right in this contest and take the Art Ribbon without a fight. With my experience, I was going to make Hilda work to earn that ribbon and with my 'son' in the contest, I felt that I had an edge here.

"Let's go... Sylveon!" Hilda exclaimed happily as her shiny Fairy-type Pokémon let go of her arm and gracefully strode in front of her.

'_Yes, I, Sylveon will show you how grace and charm shall win a Pokémon Contest,_' the shiny Intertwining Pokémon said to audience as many were awed by the sight of her and her trainer as well.

"Sylveon, let's show them your Swift attack," Hilda ordered Sylveon.

'_Time to dazzle the audience,_' Sylveon replied happily as she let loose a flurry brightly colored stars.

"Oh wow, this just spectacular," the MC said in awe of the brightly colored Swift.

"Now use Fairy Wind!" Hilda exclaimed bursting with confidence.

Sylveon gave a slight nod and used the Fairy-type attack as directed to, lifting up the brightly colored stars from the Swift attack. As I watched Hilda perform with Sylveon, I smiled as my student had apparently taken my lessons seriously and that was left was for her to finish strong.

"Now Sylveon, finish strong with Dazzling Gleam!" exclaimed Hilda as she was bursting with even more confidence.

The shiny Intertwining Pokémon then sent out a powerful flash that caused temporary blindness for a split second and then caused the stars from the Swift attack to explode in a rainbow of many colors as well as Hilda and her shiny Sylveon in a cute and sexy pose. Once the performance was done, many in the crowd erupted with many cheers and some whistling from a few guys in the audience. Hilda then turned to the judges for their thoughts

"Truly remarkable," said Mr. Contesto. "I think we have a new star on the rise. Hilda and her new Pokémon are destined for greatness."

"I've had heard rumors about the Fairy-type Pokémon from the Kalos region and never thought that we would see such a beautiful Fairy-type here in Unova," replied Nurse Joy. "She's healthy and seems to have quite the bond with her trainer. A dazzling combination from and her Sylveon."

"It seems that Miss Touko has improved a lot such the Sapphire Town Contest," added the president of Unova's Pokémon Fan Club. "And with the Fairy-type at her side, I would concur with my colleague, Nurse Joy. Both Miss Touko and her Fairy-type Pokémon, Sylveon, have quite the bond."

Both Nurse Joy and the president of Unova's Pokémon Fan Club had noticed that Sylveon had latched her ribbon-like feelers back on Hilda's right arm as they had made their observation of Hilda and Sylveon having a close bond with each other. I imagine that Sylveon would attach their ribbon-like feelers to their trainers if they had a very close bond. I guess Hilda and Sylveon must've hit it off right away when Jessica gave Hilda the shiny Sylveon. In any case it was Elesa's turn for her critique of Hilda and Sylveon's performance and Hilda's outfit. I noticed that at first, the Nimbasa City gym leader had sour look on her face for a split second and then quickly recovered as she said, "That was a remarkable performance that Miss Touko and her Fairy-type Pokémon had certainly blown the audience away. And I'm perfectly blown by the performance and her dazzling outfit. It goes perfectly with her partner Pokémon and I'd have to guess that her Fairy-type Pokémon is a rare shiny Pokémon. The dazzling Fairy-type outfit could be considered as potentially being a part of my fashion lineup as well. It looks like Unova might be in need of a princess if she has such dazzling clothes."

"You heard here from Elesa," the MC said with a slight grin as Hilda and Sylveon both bowed gracefully in perfect synch before walking to join us, the other contestants here in the waiting room. "She said that Miss Touko's outfit has the potential to be part of her fashion lineup. We might have Miss Touko being called the Princess of Unova if she can manage to pull out the victory here."

I gave Hilda a slight nod as it was my turn to show off my outfit and my 'son's' child-like appeal. Manaphy held on to my shoulder as tight as he could as we both headed out for the stage with the crowd roaring for more after Jeanette put on a spectacular performance of her own with Whimsicott. Elesa found her kimono to be rather fascinating and traditional compared to what she saw. As both Manaphy and I were on the stage the crowd was already energized and ready to see what I had in store for them as the contest MC announced my name.

"Manaphy, take the stage!" I exclaimed as Manaphy leapt off my left shoulder gracefully, landing with style and posing with his cute child-like appeal that certainly drove the girls wild as I could hear a few them squealing that Manaphy was so cute and that they wanted to hug and shower him affection. I think even Victini would be jealous that Manaphy had more girls squealing and wanting to shower him with affection.

"Wow, two rare Pokémon are this contest," observed the MC. "Let's see how the Princess of Hoenn deals with this audience."

"We'll start by using Bubblebeam!" I exclaimed as Manaphy used Bubblebeam launching a flurry of bubbles.

"Now use Psychic attack to capture those bubbles," I instructed Manaphy.

Manaphy complied and used his Psychic attack to capture the bubbles from his Bubblebeam attack. Manaphy and I weren't going to let Hilda and Sylveon upstage us as I had plan and with the new Fairy-type attack I taught Manaphy, Manaphy and I were going to show that were still at the top of our game.

"Manaphy, use Ice Beam and freeze the bubbles," I told Manaphy.

'_Yes Mama!_' exclaimed Manaphy before using his Ice Beam attack on the bubbles.

The frozen bubbles then began to fall towards the ground as I knew everything was going according to plan and I felt extremely confident that we were going to finish strong. Once the frozen bubbles were in the right position, I had Manaphy finish strong like I had planned.

"Alright Manaphy, finish strong!" I exclaimed as Manaphy knew what I was talking about.

Manaphy then used the new Dazzling Gleam attack I had taught him and the frozen bubbles exploded into a rainbow of bright and beautiful colors with Manaphy at my side. The crowd erupted into a loud roar of applause and cheers of the audience wanting more.

"Spectacular performance from the Princess of Hoenn as always," commented the president of the Unova Pokémon Fan Club. "With Manaphy and Victini, the Princess of Hoenn sure knows how to put on performance that'll get energize a crowd."

"She certainly has such a cute and adorable Pokémon," added Nurse Joy. "Seeing Manaphy here in Unova, let alone in a contest is certainly a rare treat. The Princess of Hoenn certainly takes good care of her Pokémon."

"The Princess of Hoenn certainly has the talent for the blowing the audience away," finished Mr. Contesto. "Marvelous performance indeed."

Elesa looked at me as she saw my contest outfit and had that wary look as if something was up. Once the television cameras were pointed in her direction, she was quick to recover and then said, "She definitely earned the right to be called Princess of Hoenn and her performance showed it too. I think her contest outfit goes perfectly with the Pokémon she has performed with. Another fine outfit, worthy enough to possibly be in my fashion lineup."

An hour later, while the judges were deliberating, Elesa came to the waiting room and approached Jessica as she had some questions for her.

"Are you breaking our contract?" Elesa asked Jessica as she was a bit upset with Relena's sister.

"Relax Elesa, I have no intention of breaking our contract," Jessica said coolly. "The outfits you saw were for my baby sister's friends. I made them outfits as a... signing bonus."

"So you're telling me that you hired them to work for you, do I have that right?" asked Elesa.

"Yes, that's right," answered Jessica. "But you should see Hilda's Zekrom Dress. It's one of my finest works."

"Maybe later," replied Elesa. "Sorry, I thought you were breaking our contract and replacing me with the two girls who were wearing some of your designs."

"I completely understand your worries," Jessica said with a grin on her face. "Seeing two younger girls wearing fashion from a client's fashion lineup, would certainly make me feel uneasy."

As this was going on, Jeanette approached me as I was brushing my hair and had a smile on her face as did Whimsicott though she also had a few questions that she needed to ask. "Hey May!" she called out, getting my attention and my surprise as well but I smiled back at the other girl.

"Hey there Jeanette, what's up?" I asked, curious on what she needed to talk to me about as the smile on her face became wider, almost to the point of a Cheshire cat grin like the one Hilda had on her face previously.

"I just came to check up on you, that's all and I had a few things that I was meaning to ask you by the way..." answered the Kanto Trainer, having already realized that Ash's name sounded very familiar to her ever since learning that I was now engaged to him but wanted to be certain if it is him. "How exactly did you and Ash Ketchum meet? In fact, when did you two start going out?"

"It's a long story but to be fair, he and I met when I first arrived at Littleroot Town but we never actually interacted until his Pikachu destroyed my bike when he used his Thundershock to stop three members of the Criminal Organization Team Rocket from stealing him..." I began explaining to Jeanette how Ash and I met, our travels throughout Hoenn and Kanto, including the conflicts with Team Magma, Team Aqua, Butler, the Phantom, Colonel Hansen, Rico, the events with the Tree of Life and even the encounters with Jirachi, Deoxys, Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Mew, Sir Aaron's Lucario and how I became Manaphy's mother despite Jackie not wanting us to bond. In fact, I also revealed how Ash and I got together during the events against the Phantom as well as how we were reunited in Sinnoh before participating in the Wallace Cup, since then I missed him but was happy when he won the Sinnoh League by the time I joined him in his travels in the Unova region yet still rather dumbfounded that the three Team Rocket members are still following Ash even now. "That's about it really..."

Jeanette laughed a bit, finding it rather cute that May liked Ash this much. "How sweet, by the way... I never thought Ash would actually win a Pokemon League to be fair..." she said, thinking back to her battle against him at the Indigo League's Grass Field. "He was a very tough opponent for me at the Indigo Plateau, so I guess that makes sense."

"Wait, you actually met Ash as well?" I was rather surprised by this but Richie seemed to know Ash since they had met twice before in Kanto as well as in Johto and Jeanette gave me a smile, laughing again at the expression Manaphy and I had on our faces.

"Yes we did but we were opponents at the time, I hope you are able to make sure that he keeps on training" she replied, then knew she needed to find out other things, such as about Manaphy and the fact I was even called the Princess of Hoenn to begin with. "You know, I am wondering how you have Manaphy with you at all times but he isn't in a Pokéball and not only that, I recall that a trainer is only allowed to have six Pokemon on his or her team at a time."

"Actually I have Manaphy's Pokéball with me but he doesn't want to remain inside there much like Ash's Pikachu" I explained, producing Manaphy's Pokéball from my bag and Jeanette glanced at it, though never actually knew that Pikachu refuses to go back into his Pokéball which in a way explained why Ash didn't recall him with it after being beaten by Bellsprout like he did when Bulbasaur was beaten.

"That's good, oh and before I forget... how is it that you are known as the Princess of Hoenn? The Princess Day Festival if I remember usually happens only in my home region of Kanto" she spoke again, needing to be certain that it wasn't all made up by the MCs. "Not only that, you told me yourself that you lost in the Hoenn Grand Festival and the Kanto Grand Festival earlier."

"I got that title because I actually won the Johto Grand Festival... back before I reunited with Ash in Sinnoh I mean, trust me he was shocked to learn that on the night before we came to Unova" I answered, my turn to laugh as I remembered the look on Ash's face from learning that I actually emerged victorious in a Grand Festival much like how he won the Orange League, the Battle Frontier and most recently the Sinnoh League. "Even my mother and father were proud when I told them prior to the Wallace Cup."

"I also just remembered something..." Jeanette realized that she didn't show me the ribbons that she won, knowing it would be fair to do so since the two of us were friends and revealing the case that contained the two ribbons, though she was hoping to Arceus that this Harley guy that I told her about wouldn't be involved in this contest at all but the chances of him actually being involved were kinda slim to none. "So what do you think?"

"Wow, I have to admit it is pretty good!" I said with a smile, knowing that Jeanette seemed to be a pretty good Coordinator in her own right and the fact that she had a Cottonee and a Whimsicott with her showed that she was not only strong but elegant and beautiful as well. "Sure I only have one ribbon so far ever since coming to Unova but I am looking forward to winning my second one."

"Well, it looks like Miss Touko might be tough to beat," observed Jeanette. "With the performance that she did with her new Pokémon, the contest might just be a bit difficult."

'We live for the tough competition,' Victini said happily. 'Brother Manaphy, shall we continue to blow the competition away, now that Lady Relena and Katsumi have dropped out of the competition?'

'_Actually, Sister Braixen and I are competing in the Double Battle in this competition,_' Manaphy answered Victini.

Victini... was a bit upset to hear that Braixen was taking his place for this competition and tried to whine and get me to change my mind, but I wouldn't budge an inch. I was certainly thankful that Katsumi was there drag to Victini away. Of course Relena was in the waiting room too with her fiance and of course her 'father' too.

"Alright now folks, we have us a real competition as the Princess of Hoenn is battling newcomer Hilda Touko," the MC said as both Hilda and I reached the stage to do battle for the Art Ribbon.

Looking back on the previous battles for both Hilda and I, there a few close calls. Like when Hilda had to battle Jeanette right off the bat. Hilda wanted, once again, to use Zekrom but was convinced that Zekrom wasn't exactly a Pokémon for contests and still insisted that Unova wasn't ready to know that she was the Heroine of Ideals. So instead she used her shiny Pikachu with her shiny Sylveon. The two of them proved to be quite the duo as we learned that Electric-type Pokémon are immune to paralysis and Jeanette's Grass-type Pokémon had tried to paralyze her shiny Pikachu and her shiny Sylveon just overcame the induced paralysis because she and Hilda had a close bond. With that sudden shock, Hilda was able to take the reigns of the battle and not let up for a minute as she knocked out both Whimsicott and Cottonee.

I had faced some fairly decent coordinators and certainly put up a good fight as they tried so hard to get ahead with the points, but unfortunately for them, I always came right back with Manaphy and Braixen and came from behind. The last coordinator I faced; however, was a little nervous and made a few mistakes that Manaphy and Braixen were able to capitalize on and that. Once he was defeated, my last opponent was going to be Hilda. I knew that Hilda had been getting better by day and would be tough to face. Victini tried to insist that I needed his help, but Katsumi lassoed him like a cowboy trying to lasso a Tauros. Hee hee, I think probably Relena must've taught Katsumi to use a rope like a cowboy because it was funny to see my silly little buddy getting lassoed by his mate. Victini tried so hard to keep from being reeled in by his mate but his strength couldn't keep him from his mate.

All the comedy aside, I gave a slight smile to Hilda as I knew both of us were in for one heck of a battle. Hilda returned the nod with one of her own as did Sylveon. Before taking a deep breath, I looked to the audience and noticed that Victini had tears streaming down his face as he was still disappointed that he wasn't in the competition. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head gently as I sighed. I figured I was going to have to make it up to Victini afterwards. But for now, I had my own contest with Hilda to think of, and Manaphy seemed to be primed and ready to fight. We both nodded to each other and walked to the center of the stage, where we shook hands and got ready for the competition.

The bell rang, and the final confrontation began! I immediately had Manaphy combine his Water Pulse attack with an Ice Beam in order to create a spectacular display of water and ice… but Hilda and her Shiny Sylveon started strong as well, and the Fairy-type used her Dazzling Gleam attack to create a majestic show of light in front of herself! We were already deep in one heck of a confrontation, and we were giving it all we had in order to come out on top… I had to pull out all the stops in this one!

Again, I had Manaphy use his water and ice combination, and I also had him use his Tail Glow attack and his Psychic attack in order to move the water and ice formation in a complex pattern above our heads. This seemed to be very much liked by the audience, who clapped loudly even though the battle wasn't over yet… but Hilda didn't stand idly and answered with her own move. She had Sylveon use Misty Terrain in order to cover the ground with a thin layer of silver mist, and then attacked with a powerful Moonblast followed by a Shadow Ball, creating a strange and stunning effect of light and dark trails in midair. I have to say, it was quite spectacular, and I knew Hilda was getting in the lead. So, I had Manaphy stop using his water and ice combo, which was already proving to be old hat, and had him use his Psychic attack in conjunction with Aqua Ring, creating a scintillating pattern of blue and purple rings around himself, and causing me to recover some of the disadvantage.

However, Hilda and her Sylveon weren't done yet. They began by attacking my Manaphy with Baby Doll Eyes, a weird Fairy-type attack that lowers the target's Attack and always goes first… and then they followed up by using Psyshock, a Psychic-type attack that is counted as a Physical move even though it still runs off the user's Special Attack. It unleashes a powerful and colorful blast of psychic energy on my Manaphy and manages to shave off a nice chunk of his HP, and in the end, I couldn't keep up with the Fairy type's relentless attack. When the signal of the end of the competition sounded, I inwardly winced, knowing that I was probably going to lose this one. However, I was still glad to have participated in such an exciting battle and to have confronted my skills with those of a fellow coordinator, and I was proud of Manaphy for having done his best anyway!

The judges stood in silence for a moment… and after they had taken their decision, their representative cleared his voice and announced the results.

"The results are in. Hilda and her Sylveon narrowly defeated May and her Manaphy, therefore winning the competition! Congratulations!" the MC exclaimed, with everyone clapping loudly at her victory, and Hilda proudly raising her arm in the air and thanking everyone for their support. Even though I hadn't won, I was still glad for Hilda, so I went and shook her hand in a gesture of friendship, congratulating her for her victory.

"Thanks, May! You and Manaphy were awesome too!" Hilda said, looking at Sylveon and Manaphy who were congratulating each other over their fantastic showing.

"You and your Pokémon were great too," Hilda replied to me.

"We have a winner of the Castellia City contest!" exclaimed the MC. "It looks as though Unova has it's own Princess. Hilda Touko is now the Princess of Unova!"

Many people in the audience cheered for Hilda as she was a bit apprehensive at first about becoming known as the Princess of Unova. But with Elesa urging her to take the stage, Hilda waved to the crowd as audience got louder. Elesa also made her announcement on the results of the fashion show that was part of the contest. It seemed that both Hilda and I had tied and Elesa wanted both outfits that we wore to be part of her fashion lineup. Jessica gave both Hilda and I a slight nod and both of us had a picture taken with Elesa as she said that she would be contact with both of us in the future and to visit her in Nimbasa City at her gym for her next fashion show.

"Wow, my girlfriend is known as the Princess of Unova," Hilbert said with a big grin on his face. "Looks like you might have to defend that title. I bet you'll be facing May again in the future."

"Don't remind me, Hilbert," Hilda snorted to her boyfriend. "Besides, May isn't gonna show me any mercy next time."

'_That's alright Hilda, we'll just get stronger and prove that May isn't the only stronger coordinator here in Unova,_' Sylveon said to her trainer as she walked along side Hilda.

Once the contest was over, our next task would be the Castellia City gym. And I certainly had no illusions that the gym leader was just going to let us win so easily. We had a plan to get stronger and that was what we were going to do.

**Author's note: And cut! Thank you for your patience. I'm sorry it took so long for this chapter to get updated. I'm gonna work on the next chapter for one of my other fics. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please... please leave reviews for it when and if you favorite this story. Thanks everyone! Bye! ^_^**


	19. Chapter 17

**Victini: 'Hmm... no one is here. So I guess that I get to do the disclaimer this time **

**Aurora: 'Sorry little Victory Pokémon, but I shall do the disclaimer this time.'**

**Victini: 'Hey! It's my turn!'**

**Aurora: 'Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. Nintendo owns everything pertaining to Pokémon. He is using them for the sole purpose of entertainment. No money is being made from writing these stories.'**

**Relena: Thank you Father.**

**Victini: [tearing up] 'B-But... I wanted to do the disclaimer this time!'**

**Relena: Sparky, please get to writing.**

17: Dreams of the Future and Oh, The Tangled Web of Castellia City

Things began to a bit difficult for the group. After the contest, Hilda and I first met with Elesa about our outfits. She combed over our outfits as she was preparing to take pictures of me and Hilda, making sure there weren't any problems with our outfits before the photo shoot. I wasn't looking forward to being thrust back into the limelight. I was starting to adapt to Relena's approach to fame; be content with whatever accomplishments you achieve and don't seek anymore. I guess for Relena... and Richie, it was pretty easy for them considering that their home region is an isolated region and not many people outside the Atlantica Islands had heard of their region in the first place. For me, it's not so much easy being content with your accomplishments and status. Poor Hilda was being thrust right into limelight without so much as a heads-up. I felt sorry for her, but after a while, the flashing from cameras and camera phones stopped and we could finally get back in our normal clothes again.

"Oh man, I never thought all of the flashing from those cameras were gonna stop," moaned Hilda as she and I were sharing a room tonight and making our boyfriends share a room.

'Arceus could not have given me the best luck tonight,' Victini said happily with the biggest grin on his face.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten about a certain ladies' Pokémon that slept at the end of the bed. That was certainly the last time I ever made that mistake. I kicked Victini out of our room and made him sleep with our boyfriends instead. Manaphy also slept in the boys' room as well after I asked him gently and tucked him into bed.

'But I wanna stay with the ladies tonight!' whined Victini. 'May, please let me stay with you ladies.'

"Sorry Victini, but that's not happening," I said to Victini firmly. "Hilda and I want to hang out. Just us girls tonight."

'But...' Victini tried to protest before Pikachu grabbed Victini by his left ear.

'_You're staying here, Brother Victini,_' Pikachu said calmly. '_May and Hilda wish to be alone and we men need to respect the ladies' wishes._'

"But it might be nice if the female Pokémon came to our room," Hilda replied with a smile. "Maybe have a nice slumber party. Same with Relena."

'_Slumber party?_' Latias asked at first.'_Oh, I've always liked having a slumber party. Especially with Bianca back in Alto Mare._'

'_It would be nice to get away from the boys,_' added Snivy as she wanted to get away from Oshawott and his excessive bragging.

Hilda and I got all of the female Pokémon and Relena in our room and had a nice slumber party. [Sigh] Of course, I should've known that my Victini was going to be persistent and try to join our slumber party through any means necessary. Thankfully, Katsumi was there to put Victini in his place and drag Victini back to the boys' room. It's quite funny to see my silly little buddy and his mate when they interact with each other. It's like Katsumi knows whenever her mate wants to flirt and knows how to keep him in line even if he constantly flirts with other girls. Despite Victini's attempts to join our slumber party, things went well for us girls. Sure, we heard Victini outside the room with his Totodile Tears trying to get us to let him in, but we ignored him.

"_Mom!_" a voice called out to me as laid on my bed and drifted into the Dream World. "_Mom, are you there?_"

"Wha? What's going on?" I asked in my sleep.

"_Mom, you need to get up and come with us,_" the voice said to me as I felt as if as my spirit had been separated from my body. "_Hurry Mom, it's urgent._"

"Coming, I'm coming," I replied with a slight yawn and lazily began to follow the voice and looked to see that my spirit had indeed left my body.

I had shook my head, but continued to follow the voice. As I followed the voice, I began to notice that I was walking underwater with many Water-type Pokémon going in the same direction that I was going. It sort of felt like I was reliving my dream when I saw Samiya for the first time. At first I was admiring all of the Pokémon heading in the same direction I was going until I heard, "_Mom, why are you standing there? Hurry up Mom!_"

I had huffed in frustration, but did as I was told by the voice. It took me about 5 minutes to follow the voice. When I finally met the owner of the voice... I was completely shocked and my eyes were widened in shock as well. The owner of the voice was a girl who looked mostly like me. There were a couple differences though. Her brunette hair was definitely longer than mine and flowed perfectly and she had Ash's brown eyes. She also seemed to have my stylish and, I hate to brag, very sexy figure. The girl was also accompanied by another girl, I'd say she was about four to six inches taller with long flowing auburn hair and deep purple eyes and had quite the figure too. Both girls had on swimsuits, the older girl had on a two piece swimsuit that matched her eye color. The other girl wore a one piece swimsuit that looked a little like one of Misty's one piece swimsuits, except it was blue like my Manaphy and had a few red rings, like Manaphy's red jewel, along her thighs. Part of me was wondering if this girl was myself a few years into future into, but that thought was immediately squashed when the long brunette haired girl came up to me hugged and said, "Mom, why are you still dressed like that? Come on change into your swimsuit and not that really ugly looking bikini either."

That comment had made me a little upset so I smacked her lightly upside her head and asked in stern tone, "Do you have a problem with bikinis?"

"Not all of them, Mom," answered my 'daughter' as she rubbed her head. "You should know by now that I hang out with Aunt Relena a lot. I thought you knew that, even Aunt Anna and Uncle Brendan are aware of it. Heh, Big brother Victini is always tries to hit on the pretty and gorgeous looking female servants at Sol Palace."

"I know he tries to hit on me for affection too," added the other girl.

I cleared my throat and then had asked both girls, "So why was I brought here in the first place? Why are you calling me 'Mom'? I'm not even old enough to be married without my parents' approval and come to think of it…. Who is this Brendan?"

Both girls look at each other with a cutesy smile on their faces and then the older girl answered, "Unfortunately, our time is up here. But you will see us again when the Mining King comes to face you for a badge."

"Later Mom," my 'daughter' had said cheerfully and I found myself kissing her forehead before she left, having no idea why. "Don't let Big brother Victini get to you with his whining."

In the morning I awoke only to see everyone else was still asleep. Heh, low and behold, Victini wasn't in the room as I kinda guessed that he might try to sneak in here while we were sleeping. But the room was free of Victini and I had to do some skillful footwork to avoid stepping on paws, tails and even feet just so I could get to the bathroom. As I was in the bathroom, I thought about my dream from that night. It was certainly bothering me as I didn't know how to interpret the dream.

'Is a vision of the future?' I wondered to myself. 'Why was that one girl calling me her mom? Am I going to be a mother?

I shook my head of that last thought as I continued to ponder the dream.

'No, I'm already a mother,' I thought to myself. 'Manaphy is my son despite the fact he's a Pokémon and I'm human. Manaphy will always be my first child.'

'Lost in your thoughts are you, May?' asked a very familiar telepathic voice that I knew all too well as I turned to find him.

[Sigh] I should've known that Victini was invisible and considered that maybe he got into the room and stayed invisible. In order to make Victini visible, I grabbed some of my makeup was about to toss up some of it when Victini made himself visible and set his hands on his hips as he said, 'If you think I snuck in here last night and was invisible the whole time you'd be sadly mistaken. But I did take Ash's key card to this room so I could get in.'

"You mean you actually stayed with the boys?" I asked Victini, a little impressed that he didn't come into the room.

'Nope,' Victini answered coolly. 'Katsumi actually took me and we went somewhere... private and...'

"You mated with each other, didn't you?" I asked Victini in a bit of a disgusted tone.

'Yes we did mate with each other,' answered Victini before giving me an evil eye. 'I don't think you're in a position to be disgusted with me mating with my own mate when you and Ash mated with each other New Year's Eve.'

I wanted to be angry at Victini, but he did have a point and he was right about New Year's Eve. So I decided not to press the matter any further. I was quick to get in the shower and Victini... um... stayed with me at my request. He stayed out of the shower as I talked to him about my dream from that night. He found my dream interesting. But I should've known that Victini was going to ask about the girls I saw in my dream. I asked him what the dream could've meant.

'Maybe it is a vision of the future,' offered Victini. 'Maybe you'll be the mother of a beautiful girl who looks like you and probably will have your grace and... lovely personality.' Victini had kissed my hand as he said the last part.

'But I think maybe we should keep it between you and I until we know more about the dream,' finished Victini. 'You might be getting bits and pieces of the dream.'

I certainly felt uncomfortable keeping my dream a secret from Ash because we had promised that we wouldn't keep secrets from each other. But in a way I wasn't willing to tell Ash about my dream just yet, at least until I knew what the dream was. For the time being, I just put thoughts about the dream somewhere in the back of my mind so I could get Ash and I could train with him a little bit before heading to the Castellia City gym for our third badge. After getting dressed and getting my Pokémon, I headed to Ash's room and found it looking like a bachelor pad. Clothes strewn all over the floor, Pokémon laying in every direction and some spilled drinks as well. As for Ash, he was on his bed snoring with Manaphy and Pikachu lying on the end of Ash's bed. "Serena… Don't go…" he spoke in his sleep as if he was having some kind of dream, yet I found myself frowning a bit when he mentioned the name of a girl that I was unaware of but I'll ask about it later.

'_I'm hungry Mama, when's breakfast?_' Manaphy asked in his sleep before his stomach rumbled, waking him up.

Pikachu also woke up as well as he too was hungry and wanted to eat. He woke up and was about to shock Ash to wake him up. But I had a different approach to waking Ash up. Ever since we started dating each other, I would gently kiss him to wake him on occasion. Once I kissed my fiancé, he woke up and was quick to get dressed as he wanted to get started on training before going to the gym.

He even wanted to give one of his older Pokemon from Professor Oak's Lab a chance to join his lineup again for old times sake, personally I don't blame him but ever since briefly leaving him prior to his journey in Sinnoh and after the Wallace Cup, I am curious on what Pokemon he was going to train with his current lineup as I wanted to train my new Snivy as well, however to my surprise… Ash let out a Dragon-Type Pokemon yet it felt familiar to me never the less; I took a look at Dexette to find out more on it.

_Gible, the Land Shark Pokemon. It attacks using its mouth. While its attacks are powerful, It hurts itself out of clumsiness._

"Wow, when did you decide to bring Gible here?" I asked out of curiosity as aside from Buizel, I never actually seen what other Pokemon that Ash had caught at the Sinnoh Region until I saw his battles at the Sinnoh League and I had to admit, they were pretty impressive Pokemon that he had then he started grinning as he nodded to Gible.

"I figured that there would be times to give my older Pokemon a chance to battle here in this region so I thought that since I hadn't used Gible that much in Sinnoh, I should train him for the Gym Battle right now." He replied, giving his signature grin as I smiled back… still, hopefully there wouldn't be any hellish moments to come, though I don't want to think about it as it might jinx our chances. "So what would you say, want to help me win my next badge Gible?"

'_You bet I am!_' nodded Gible, which Ash and Pikachu were glad to hear that as he needed to be better prepared for what is to come, especially as none of us knew what Pokemon the Gym Leader has just yet until we face him. Then again, Jeanette is hoping to have a rematch with Ash when the time came as she wanted o see how much stronger he had become since their battle at the Indigo League tournament.

It was then that we were approached by someone; it was a young man who had short black hair and wore a white shirt with a red tie and a Pokéball clip on the tie, blue pants and brown loafers and from the expression on his face, I'd say he was rather intrigued when he saw us. "Excuse me, by any chance are you two Pokemon Trainers?" he asked, fixing his glasses a bit to which the two of us nodded our heads to confirm.

"Yes, we're Pokemon Trainers…" answered Ash, not knowing who this boy is at the very moment and I was just as confused as my fiancé. "I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and this is May Haruka from Petalberg City, what about you?"

"My name is Cheren, I apologize for interrupting your training… I was rather curious" explained the boy, appearing next to him was a Pokemon that resembled Snivy but at the same time looked rather different as it was a slim bipedal Pokemon that was primarily green with a cream underside and narrow red eyes, plus it had a yellow V-shaped structure that started at the chest and extended behind the shoulders. It had short limbs and a small create protruding from the back of its head, there was even three palmate leaves growing along its back and tail.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" asked Ash, taking his Pokédex out to learn about the Pokemon in question.

_Servine, the Grass Snake Pokemon and the evolved form of Snivy. Servine whips its opponents with vines, and dodges their attacks by hiding in the shadows of thick foliage._

"Just out of curiosity, did you happen to get that Pokemon from Professor Juniper?" I decided to change the subject at hand, since I had a feeling that Hilda and Bianca had gotten their Dewott and Pignite from her respectively, which means it could that Cheren could have gotten Servine at Nuvema Town too but needed to confirm if it was the case. "While were on the subject, are you familiar with Hilda Touko, Hilbert Touya and Bianca?"

This surprised him the moment the question of him having gotten Servine from Professor Juniper was asked, but he was more surprised by the fact that I knew both Hilda and Bianca. "About Servine, yes… I have gotten him from Professor Juniper and it was at the same time Hilda got her Oshawott and Bianca picked her Tepig, in actuality we were given our starters at Hilda's house…" he replied to him, then again he also needed to address the second question. "Also I am familiar with Hilda, Hilbert and Bianca, they were my neighbors prior to us starting our journey as trainers but how is it that you know them?"

"We actually met them during our Unova Journey, Hilda's at the hotel that we are staying at right now in case you wanted to know…" explained Ash, also telling Cheren about how we met with Bianca previously when we were heading for Nacrene for our second Unova Gym Badges. "However, you three were not the only ones who got your starters, we encountered another trainer in your hometown named Trip and to be honest, he started with Snivy just like you."

"I see…" replied Cheren, just moments before he and Servine took notice towards Pikachu, Manaphy and Gible. "From the looks of it, the Pokemon that you have with you don't seem to be from this region as Pikachu is usually native to the Kanto Region while Manaphy and Gible are from Sinnoh, don't be too surprised… I have done research on the course of my journey but I would like to see how strong you are in a battle, if you'd like."

"An actual Pokemon Battle? You're on!" said Ash, looking forward to this match and decided to give his Gible a chance to go up against Cheren's as he has a feeling that his Servine might be stronger than Trip's Snivy from the looks of it. "Looks like you're up Gible!"

"Interesting choice Ash Ketchum, alright Purrloin… I choose you!" Cheren threw a Pokéball into the air and coming out of the ball was a Pokemon that neither of us was familiar with, so I looked it up in Dexette in order to learn what it was though I found it to be rather cute.

_Purrloin, the Devious Pokemon. Purrloin fools people into letting their guard down so it can steal their possessions. When angered, it uses its claws to fight back._

Purrloin grinned as it was looking forward to this battle, while Gible was just as determined to emerge victorious in this battle as it remained nothing but a stare-off at least for the time being as they were waiting for the other to make the first move. "An Unova Pokemon vs a Sinnoh Pokemon, now it's time we see which would come out on top…" grinned Cheren, wanting to see just how strong Ash truly was in a real battle. "Purrloin, use your Fury Swipes!"

'_I'm on it!_' responded Purrloin, getting ready to claw out at Gible and Ash knew better than to let his opponent hit him on the first turn so he knew what he had to do.

"Dodge with Dig!" he commanded, which the Dragon/Ground-Type complied by going underground to avoid the attack and forcing Purrloin to wait until he pops out, it took a few seconds, almost to a minute before Gible emerged but his opponent was able to jump away. "Now use Rock Smash!" Gible managed to score a direct hit on Dark-Type, causing the cat to recoil back a bit.

"I must say, I am rather impressed that you raised your Gible well but let's see how you fair against this next move?" the smirk on Cheren's face began to widen as he had something in mind that made Ash frown a bit. "Use Sucker Punch!"

Purrloin jumped into the air and proved to be much faster than Gible, this time hitting him with the powerful Dark-Type move and made the cat grin as he is curious on what the Dragon will do next as Ash isn't the time of person to back down from a battle. "If that's how you want it, Gible use your Dragon Pulse!" ordered Ash, though this only caused Cheren to give a grin as Gible fired a turquoise ball of energy from his mouth at Purrloin.

"Dodge it and counter with Copycat!" countered the male Unova trainer, Purrloin easily side-stepped from the path of the Dragon Pulse and then started to become surrounded in a waving aura of light purple light, then moments latter a Dragon Pulse of his own, catching Gible off-guard and scoring a direct hit with super effective damage. "Well it looks like I win this round."

Purrloin happily meowed for what seemed to be their victory, yet they soon saw that Gible was slowly beginning to get back up. _No way!_ He exclaimed as that attack should have been enough to defeat him since Cheren researched on how Dragon-Types were not only weak to Ice-Type moves but also their own Dragon-Type attacks as well so there is no way for Gible to keep fighting.

"Ash, I think you better switch to another Pokemon, one more hit like that and he's out for the count!" I suggested to my fiancé and he knew that I was right, yet he was getting ready to recall Gible, there was something else that was about to happen, with a yell… the Dragon/Ground-Type was suddenly glowing in a bright white light which we all knew what was going to happen. "Wait a minute, could it be?"

"I don't believe it… Gible is evolving…" Cheren muttered, watching as Gible was starting to slowly change form until what seemed like an eternity, Gible was no more and now a Gabite appeared from where he stood. I needed to see what he had become, looking at Dexette again.

_Gabite, the Cave Pokemon and the evolved form of Gible. It loves sparkly things and it seeks treasures in cave and hoards the loot into its nest._

I soon saw the excited expression on Ash's face to see that Gible had evolved, which means they might have a chance in winning now but what worries me is that Copycat attack that Purrloin knew as they need to be careful not to use another Dragon-Type move as it could knock Gabite out next time he is hit and Cheren is proving to be a rather skilled opponent himself.

'_I hope that papa can win this battle…_'I heard Manaphy speaking up and I nodded my head with a smile.

"I hope so too sweetie, plus I'm sure he'll be able to handle it" I responded, kissing Manaphy's forehead in a loving gesture, then we turned our attention back towards the battle as Ash was thinking of a new strategy for how he and Gabite would be able to beat Purrloin.

"Alright Gabite, use your Dragonbreath attack!" exclaimed Ash as he was trying to regain the upper hand.

Gabite did as he was told and sent vicious gust at Purrloin and hit the startled Dark-type Pokémon, effectively knocking him out. Cheren then sighed as he recalled his fallen Pokémon.

"You're not bad," replied Cheren. "I'll let you and your girlfriend get back to training. I guess you can say this was sort of a 'meet and greet'."

Both Ash and I were a little stunned as Cheren just recalled his fallen Pokémon and went on his way, as we both would have thought he would use Servine next but oh well. Once Cheren had left, Ash and I began to train our Pokémon that were planning on using in our gym battle that was scheduled for later in the evening, I even decided that like Ash, I would train one of my older Pokemon and I went with Munchlax as I hadn't had the chance to spend time with her since the Battle Frontier and the Wallace Cup. Hilda and Hilbert were already battling the gym leader, Burgh, for their badge, especially as the Pansear that Hilda recently caught proving to be a huge help, and we were just getting ready for the challenge ahead. Ash choose to use Latias and his new shiny Gourgeist, Ayame. Unfortunately, Ayame and Latias weren't getting along. Both female Pokémon were fighting for attention from Ash. Hee hee, it was kinda funny to see Latias and Ayame fighting over Ash's attention.

'_Why don't you go find some candy corn to throw at children, you leftover Halloween reject?_' Latias shot at Ayame as she latched on to Ash right arm.

'_I think I'll find some candy corn and spit them in your face... you spoiled and pampered Dragon girl,_' countered Ayame as she yanked on Ash's left arm.

'_My brother and I were never spoiled or pampered by Bianca and her grandfather, pumpkin brain! Let go!_' Latias shouted back at the Kalos Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon as she yanked Ash's right arm back towards her.

'_You know that's not true, little Dragon girl,_' Ayame countered back as she yanked on Ash a little harder. '_Just let go and you go back to your spoiled and pampered life._'

The last comment made Latias very upset as it seemed that both female Pokémon were about to get into a Meowth fight and poor Ash was going to get caught in the middle of the Meowth fight. Before any fighting could begin, we could hear a sweet and calming voice coming from the area. As before, something didn't feel right as it felt we were being followed, like before the fiasco when Hilda and Hilbert got the Dragon-type Pokémon they were supposed to get as they were the descendants of both the Prince of Truth and Prince of Ideals. As for the calming voice, both Latias and the Kalos Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon calmed down, but still glared at each other as they both finally let go of Ash. Once the tension had subsided, the source of the mysterious voice made itself visible to us. The owner of the soothing voice was indeed a Pokémon. This Pokémon had a feminine human-like figure and looked like a bunch of music notes and certainly brought back memories of music class for me as a little girl. The female Pokémon had music notes for arms, eyes, had music notes in her hair, a jewel on her forehead and what looked like headpiece that looked like a music note too. I was certainly fascinated by the Pokémon as was Ash. Victini then cleared his throat as he halfway approached the Pokémon.

'My friends, I would like to introduce to you Meloetta, the Normal/Psychic Melody Pokémon,' Victini said to us and the quarreling Latias and Gourgeist, Ayame. 'She and I have been friends for about a hundred years. She came to visit me on Liberty Island with the family and I shared my room with her.'

'_Hello to you too Victini,_' the Normal/Psychic said to my silly little buddy. '_Are you still trying to flirt with human females for affection?_'

'I hope there's nothing wrong with that,_'_ Victini replied calmly. 'Besides, my method of getting affection from girls works.'

Before Meloetta could speak, she and Victini looked to see two upset female Pokémon with daggers in their eyes.

'Relax ladies, Meloetta isn't interested in taking Ash away from you,' Victini assured the two female Pokémon.

'_But I would like to be his Pokémon,_' Meloetta said and alarmed both Ayame and Latias.

'_He already has enough female Pokémon,_' Latias and Ayame said to Meloetta. '_What makes you think Ash would want you?_'

'_Because I come at the request of the Sword of Justice, Virizion,_' answered Meloetta.

Latias knew of Virizion and had respect for legendary Grass/Fighting-type Pokémon. Latias then relaxed her stance and gave Meloetta a slight nod. Ayame didn't know what Virizion was or what she looked like, but if a legendary Pokémon requested Meloetta join Ash's other Pokémon, then who was she to question the said Pokémon?

Unfortunately, it would be a few days before Ash and I would get the chance to battle with the gym leader of Castellia City as he came down with a fever and wouldn't be able to battle any one in his condition. However, luck seemed to be in Ash's favor as we saw that Trip had come back to Castellia City. Trip saw us and had wanted to see Ash in order to ask how he was doing.

"I'm waiting to battle the gym leader here," Ash explained to Trip. "But I have two gym badges right now."

"That's really sad Ash," snickered Trip. "I already have four badges and you haven't even gotten your third badge? You're really pathetic, man."

I wasn't sure why Ash had his back turned to Trip at first, but it became clear when I noticed the Cherish Ball in his hand and heard it give the confirmation click that he had caught the Melody Pokémon. Trip then noticed that Ash had finally turned around to face him as Ash said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't hear what you said. I was getting a Pokémon for my team."

"I said that you're pathetic and that's because I have four badges and you only have two," replied Trip with an overconfident grin on his face. "So how about it? Care to try your luck against me? Against someone who has four badges compared to your measly pathetic two badges?"

Before Ash could respond, both Latias and Ayame were very upset with what Trip said to Ash and had daggers in their eyes. I could tell that both female Pokémon weren't too happy with Trip insulting Ash like he did. Both Pokémon looked to Ash and Latias said to him, '_I have no need for a badge to obey you. I would obey you even you had no badges at all._'

'_As would I obey you without any badges,_' agreed the Kalos Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon.

Ash gave both of his Pokémon a slight nod and then readied himself to battle Trip. Trip said nothing with as he had an overconfident grin still on his face as he readied his Pokémon. His first Pokémon he sent out was a light blue jellyfish-like Pokémon with something frilly around its neck.

"Here, let's see if you can take down simple Pokémon," Trip taunted Ash.

Pikachu sure didn't like Trip's constant insulting of Ash and was about to step up and challenge the jellyfish-like Pokémon. My Pokédex identified the Pokémon as Frillish, a Water/Ghost-type Pokémon. I had to admit that it did look cute, but I knew that Ash would beat it with his own Pokémon, especially Pikachu. But before Pikachu could step out and battle Frillish, Ayame and Latias blocked Pikachu and Ayame said to Pikachu, '_We know you wish to battle for Ash. Let Sister Latias and I take care of that pompous human boy._'

Pikachu didn't like that he was being asked to sit out, but nonetheless he agreed to sit the battle out and let Ayame and Latias take over.

'_I am ready Sister Ayame,_' Latias said to Ayame. '_Let us put this pompous little punk in his place._'

The shiny Gourgeist agreed and took her battle stance against Frillish. Trip took one look at Ayame and just burst out laughing in contempt for the Kalos shiny Pokémon. Ayame certainly didn't like being made fun of. Once Trip stopped laughing, he then turned to his Pokédex to see what kind of Pokémon Ayame was. However Trip's laughing and grin disappeared when he saw that Ayame wasn't in his Pokédex. Then Trip glared at Ash and demanded, "What kind of Pokémon do you have? How come it doesn't appear in my Pokédex?"

Ash obliged Trip's question as he answered, "She's known as Gourgeist, a Pokémon from the Kalos region."

"A Pokémon from Kalos?" asked a confused Trip. "Why are using Pokémon from the boonies?"

'_I'm from the boonies, am I?_' asked a very upset Ayame. '_Come over here and let me show how Pokémon from Kalos, I mean the boonies, fight._'

"Frillish, use Water Pulse on that Pokémon from the boonies," Trip ordered his Frillish. "It's gotta be a really weak Pokémon."

'_Gladly Master,_' acknowledged Frillish as it readied it's Water Pulse attack.

However, before Frillish could attack, Ayame disappeared somewhere. This startled all of us, including Ash. Ash thought that it was Shadow Force, an attack known only by Giratina. It seemed to look like Shadow Force and then Ayame reappeared, striking Frillish down in one move. However, as she reappeared, she had been struck by Frillish's Water Pulse attack at point-blank range before he got struck down. The Water-type attack didn't do much damage to Ayame and she was certainly lucky that she wasn't confused by the attack too. Trip gritted his teeth as he was surprised to see that his Frillish get knocked out in one move.

'_Humph, that Water/Ghost Pokémon wasn't much of a challenge to me,_' Ayame commented on Trip's Frillish. '_It had the worst Physical Defense I've ever seen and that's bad for any Ghost-type Pokémon like me._'

"So you're a Grass-type Pokémon," summarized Trip after he saw that his Frillish's Water Pulse attack not do the damage he hoped it would do. "I know how to deal with Grass-type Pokémon from the boonies."

'I _think you need a lesson in humility, boy,_' shot back Ayame as Trip then brought out his next Pokémon, an Ice-type Pokémon the resembled a larger ice cream cone.

"Let's see how your pathetic Grass-type Pokémon gets out of this mess," sassed Trip.

'_Do not underestimate me, boy,_' countered Ayame as she dodged an Icicle Spear attack. '_I have more surprises that you don't know about._'

"You tell him Ayame!" exclaimed Ash with enthusiasm. "And show that surprise of yours with a Flamethrower attack!"

Trip widened his eyes when he heard Ash order Ayame to use Flamethrower against his Ice-type Vanillish. I found it quite shocking too when Ayame showed us her attacks and Flamethrower was one of the attacks she knew. In a way, I was glad to see that she knew Flamethrower and commented to her that she didn't have to be afraid of Bug and Ice-type Pokémon.

Ayame then countered back at Vanillish by using her Flamethrower and intercepting it's Frost Breath attack that it tried to use to defend itself. The intense fire from Ayame's Flamethrower melted the Ice-type attack like it was nothing. Vanillish itself was struck by the Flamethrower attack and fell to Ayame with little difficulty. Ayame was certainly proud that she had taken down two of Trip's Pokémon with little to no effort at all.

'_Well done Sister Ayame,_' cheered Latias. '_That's showing the folly of arrogance._'

"Don't get so full of yourself just because you, a Pokémon from the boonies just got lucky," shot back Trip.

'_Hmph, the boy is certainly a stubborn one,_' commented Ayame.

"Gurdurr, let's see if we can't end their lucky streak," Trip said to the Pokémon that had just come out of its Pokéball.

The Pokémon was certainly muscular and carried a steel beam in one hand. Both Ayame and Latias studied the muscular looking Pokémon as both Ash and I each pulled out our Pokédexes and pointed it at Trip's third Pokémon. The Pokémon was indeed called Gurdurr. The Pokédex said that the Pokémon was usually found near construction sites, liked to boast about strong it was and that even a group of professional wrestlers couldn't make it budge an inch. It was certainly an impressive Fighting-type Pokémon and Ash was about to reach for Tranquil's Pokéball when Latias stepped forward next to Ayame.

'_Let me take this Pokémon, Sister Ayame,_' requested Latias. '_I have a feeling that I can take this Pokémon down no problem._'

'_He's all yours then Sister Latias,_' agreed Ayame as both Pokémon tagged each other and the female shiny Pumpkin Pokémon pulled back to let Latias handle the Unova Fighting-type Pokémon.

Trip then pulled out his Pokédex to look at Latias and got the information that he wanted. Unfortunately, it wasn't the right thing that he wanted to hear as he heard that Latias was a part Psychic Pokémon.

"Oh crap," Trip said under his breath. "But I won't back down. Use Payback on Latias."

'_As you command, Master,_' acknowledged the Unova Fighting-type Pokémon as it readied it's Dark-type attack.

'_You're... not... fast... enough,_' Latias taunted the Unova Fighting-type Pokémon as she used her Psychic attack.

The Unova Fighting-type Pokémon was hit by the Psychic attack and fainted due to being weak to Psychic-Type attacks like Latias's Psychic attack. Trip's eyes went wide when his Gurdurr fainted. For the Unova-born trainer, he was being shown up by two of Ash's Pokémon. Ash wasn't even giving them commands; both Ayame and Latias were doing fine battling and didn't appear to have taken many hits. As for Trip, he wasn't taking getting defeated very well or as a humbling experience. He was becoming even more upset with each defeat with even his Tranquil and Lampert falling to the two Pokemon he was facing, with Tranquil taken down by a single Thunderbolt from Latias and Lampert being knocked out by Ayame's Shadow Ball attack. It was then that Relena stepped in just as Trip is about to send out his Servine and said, "I think that he's suffered enough of a defeat.

'_Huh? But we can knock him down even more and make him eat a slice of humble pie,_' protested Latias as she wanted to finish the fight.

'_I am with Sister Latias, Lady Relena,_' agreed Ayame. '_That pompous little punk needs to be taught a lesson and we can teach it to him._'

"And I'm know you can too," Relena said calmly, "but using force isn't going to teach anyone lesson. For all you know, he can only harden his heart and try to overpower you with force again.

"You two have done enough to him. Let it go," finished Relena as she held her right hand up gently.

"Damn you," Trip snarled at Relena. "This battle is not over. Not until I beat Ash's Pokémon from the boonies."

"No, you are done," corrected Relena. "Otherwise I'll let Ayame and Latias come back and pound you into the ground. Just admit your defeat and leave Ash some money."

Trip glared at Relena in defiance at first, but when Aurora backed her up, he relented and did as he was told. After he left on his way, Ash and I made our way to the gym and found that it was now open for trainers to come in. I was quick to call the others and tell them that the gym was open for challengers. After I called the others, I quickly restrained Ash and kept him entering the gym as I knew he was going to try and challenge the gym leader. After knowing him for three years, I got used to his personality and learned to adjust to it rather rapidly. Since Ash and I were going for the same badge, I thought it would be nice to challenge the gym leader together since we both needed the same badge.

Once everyone had arrived at the gym, the group entered the gym and we saw the gym looked like a forest with a mess of webbing around it.

'I don't like the look of this place,' remarked Victini as he studied the webbing around the gym. 'It looks like little Pokémon could get caught in the webbing. I think I'll stick close to you guys.'

'_I'm with Brother Victini on that,_' agreed Manaphy as he was uneasy about the webbing that covered most of the forest-like gym setting.

"Well you be assured that none of my Bug-type Pokémon are interested in claiming your small Pokémon as their next dinner," said a voice up on a large tree. "They prefer sweet foods like berries and honey."

'Well, I suppose that's a relief to hear,' Victini said feeling a little at ease.

The owner of the voice was the gym leader of Castellia City. He had on a green shirt, red pants with a green stripe running down each leg and a red scarf around his neck.

"I suppose that you two are next to challenge me for the Insect Badge, right?" the gym leader asked Ash and I.

"Yeah, that's right," answered Ash, he decided that he could use his Sewaddle, especially after having trained him a bit since catching him back at the Pinwheel Forest plus I decided to train my Munchlax a bit as she might help me out sometime in Unova when the chance came and Burgh thought it would be interesting to face the both of us, then grinned.

"In that case, why not make this a two on two match and it will be both of you against me" he said to the both of us, snapping his fingers as he battlefield revealed itself from underneath and needless to say, we were a bit surprised at first but at the same time, Ash looked read to win this battle. As for me, I know which Pokemon I was going to choose.

"This two on two battle between Ash, May and Burgh is about to begin! The Gym Battle will be completed when one team's two Pokemon are unable to continue the battle!" announced the referee, while I got Braxien's Pokéball ready, Ash decided to go with his Sewaddle and upon both our respective Pokemon being let out onto the battlefield, I looked at Sewaddle on Dexette to learn more about him.

_Sewaddle, the Sewing Pokemon. Sewaddle hides from its enemies by covering its head with a hood made from a leaf, and is known to eat its leafy clothing when food is scares._

"Very interesting choices, as the Gym Leader it is my duty to show you my Pokemon and my choice would be Whirlpede and Leavanny!" Burgh sent out his two Pokemon, both of which were Bug-Types but that wouldn't mean they would be easy even though my Braxien had a Type advantage, I was a bit concerned for Ash as his Sewaddle had a weakness to Poison-Type moves which could mean some trouble.

"I think we better be ready to assist Sewaddle if possible" I told Braxien and she nodded her head, especially as she knew some attacks that can help against Whirlpede and Leavanny with the referee announcing the start of the match. "Alright Braxien let's start with Flamethrower! On Whirlpede!"

Just as Braxien used her attack, she and I failed to notice that Burgh was grinning, having figured that I would try and get a type advantage with Braxien, though he was impressed that I was using a Pokemon that wasn't from this region never the less. "Leavanny, use Protect to save Whirlpede!" he ordered, which his Bug/Grass-Type used an attack to save his partner though Ash had decided to go in for his own counterattack.

"Sewaddle, use Bug Bite!" he ordered, which his own Bug/Grass-Type charged in as they figured that Leavanny wouldn't be able to use Protect twice in a row though there was something we were not expecting from him as Whirlpede had his turn to protect his partner when Burgh ordered him to use Iron Defense.

"Now Whirlpede, use your Poison Sting on Sewaddle" he commanded Whirlpede, as purple poisonous darts were shot right at Sewaddle and then he turned his attention towards Leavanny before giving the next order. "Leavanny, you should use Cut on Braxien!"

"Dodge it!" we both ordered our respective Pokemon to avoid the attacks sent at them, more so before Ash had Sewaddle use his String Shot attack to try and slow Whirlpede down while I had to make sure this move counts as for all I know, Leavanny could protect himself. "Use Psychic!"

Braxien's eyes glowed bright blue and Leavanny was briefly caught off-guard as he found himself being stopped in his tracks, unfortunately Whirlpede managed to break out of the threat by spinning around but that wasn't all. "Use your Defense Curl and then Rollout!" This made me shocked as his Rollout attack hit Seawaddle and it was heading towards Braxien, managing to score a super-effective hit, which sent her to the ground, the hit also freed Leavanny as well. "Oh no, are you okay Braxien?"

'_Yeah… I'm fine… I think I can still fight…_' she told me, however the problem is that one more hit like that and it would be over for both of us, especially as I mentally wondered why Ash didn't use either Gabite, Ayame or Latias, especially as he had his Pignite, Quilava, Donphan, Torkoal, Infernape, Swellow, Staraptor, Glalie, Heracross, Noctowl, Gliscor, Tauros, Muk and Tranquil at Professor Oak's lab.

"Leavanny, use your Aerial Ace on Sewaddle and Whirlpede, use your Rollout on Braxien!" he commanded, as both Pokemon used their Super Effective attacks against their respective opponents but I refuse to either lose or let Ash lose in this battle, not unlike when we went up against Oscar and Andy back in Hoenn but we needed to wait for the right moment.

"Dodge and use your Flame Charge and Psychic to help Sewaddle! Flame on!" I told my Pokemon, she burned brightly as she dodged the attack from Whirlpede and her Flame Charge took on the form of an Arcanine as it not only increased her speed, but also managed to score a direct hit on Leavanny just moments before he could knock Sewaddle out. However Whirlpede was heading our way, this time using Steamroller, as Ash ordered a Razor Leaf attack from Sewaddle but it didn't seem to stop the charging Bug/Poison-Type as Ash's Pokemon ended up pushing Braxien out of the way before he got hit. "Sewaddle!"

"Sewaddle, can you get up?" he asked, rather concerned for his Pokemon as unlike Rollout, Steamroller managed to do much more damage to Sewaddle as the Bug/Grass-Type struggled to get himself back up while Braxien went to his side.

"My team's pure hearts are shining just as brightly as can be…" he said, more so as Ash bit his lower lip since as long as Whirlpede knew Iron Defense and Leavanny knew Protect, it wouldn't take long before his and May's Pokemon were taken down for the count but they couldn't give up now especially as they trained for this battle "Leavanny, use Aerial Ace!"

As Leavanny prepared his Flying-Type move on Sewaddle, I needed to act fast… then turned my attention towards Braxien, hoping she was up to it. "Defend him with your Protect!" I told her, this time Leavanny's attack was blocked, though it seemed like it was just a diversion as he ordered his Whirlpede to use Steamroller and Sewaddle was hit by it unfortunately. "Oh no!"

"It's time we finish this, Leavanny use Hyper Beam!" ordered the Castellia City Gym leader, with an orange beam being formed from the fully-evolved Bug/Grass-Type's mouth and was fired right past Braxien before either of us could react as the blast was heading straight for Sewaddle.

"Dodge it now!" Ash quickly ordered, yet as he moved out of the way, Burgh ordered Whirlpede to use Solarbeam and the Grass-Type move made contact, yet as we thought it was over… something surprising happened as Sewaddle began glowing, which meant he was evolving… eventually he vanished completely, replaced with a new Pokemon and I took Dexette out to learn what he had turned into.

_Swadloon, the Leaf-Wrapped Pokemon and the evolved form of Sewaddle. Swadloon's body is covered in leaves which protects it from the cold. In forests where Swadloon lives, the trees and grass grow very well._

I saw how happy Ash was that his Swadloon had evolved, but we had a battle to win as both our opponents were still pretty tough to beat so we need to think this through carefully as one mess up and it would cost us the match. The fact remains that Leavanny is Burgh's strongest Pokemon made me bite my lower lip a bit and how strong he was since he could hold his own against Swadloon and Braxien, despite the latter's Type Advantage. However, there is some good news, since Leavanny just used his Hyper Beam… he will need to recharge before he can attack again since Swadloon was able to dodge the attack which gave Ash and me an idea, which made us hope that it would work.

"Alright Braxien, use your Psychic attack on on Whirlpede," I ordered Braxien.

My Fire-type Pokémon gave me slight nod as she targeted the Bug/Poison Pokémon and used the Psychic-Type attack on Whirlpede. As for Ash, he had Swadloon use Energy Ball on Leavanny. I certainly had no clue as to why he had Swadloon use a Grass-type attack against Burgh's Bug-type Pokémon. I think the others were wondering the same thing too, especially Ayame and Latias. I think most of were using the logic about Pokémon types as we all knew that Bug-type Pokémon wouldn't take much damage from Grass-type moves. But as Leavanny was hit by the Energy Ball attack, we noticed that a brief tint of orange raced down the Bug/Grass-type's body.

'Hmm, if I didn't know any better I'd say that Leavanny's Special Defense stat went down when it got hit by the Energy Ball attack,' Victini said from my right shoulder. 'It seems your fiancé got lucky with that Energy Ball attack lowering Leavanny's Special Defense.'

"It seems that way," I agreed with Victini. "Now we just we need to press our advantage so we can get our next badge."

'Agreed,' replied Victini.

Whirlpede fell to Braxien's Psychic attack and was freed to help Swadloon deal with Leavanny. Once the ref announced that Whirlpede was unable to battle, Braxien and I turned out attention to helping deal with Leavanny. However, Leavanny wasn't going to go down easily as Burgh had no intention of giving up easily.

"Hyper Beam, one last time should do it," Burgh ordered his Leavanny.

Burgh's Leavanny began to charge up it's Hyper Beam, but were ready with our own strategy. Both Ash and I looked to each other and gave each other a slight nod as we knew what to do next.

"Braxien, get behind Swadloon," I said to my evolved Fox Pokémon.

Braxien was a little uneasy when I wanted her to get behind Swadloon. She gave me a quizzical look as to ask if she heard me right. My response was to give her a slight nod acknowledging what I told her to do.

"Swadloon, use Protect!" exclaimed Ash as he was certainly excited.

Swadloon did as he was instructed to do once Braxien was behind him. As for Leavanny, it fired it's Hyper Beam directly at Swadloon, but not being able to penetrate through Swadloon's Protect. As Leavanny's Hyper Beam was still trying to break through Swadloon's Protect, I made my next move.

"Alright Braxien let's finish this battle off," I called to Braxien. "Flamethrower!"

'_Gotcha!_' exclaimed Braxien as she aimed her Flamethrower attack at the vulnerable Leavanny as it finished using it's Hyper Beam attack this caught the Nurturing Pokémon off guard and was hit by the very super-effective Fire-type attack. It was then that Leavanny fell in defeat with circles in it's eyes.

"Both Whirlpede and Leavanny are unable to battle," announced the ref. "The winners are Swadloon and Braxien. The victory goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and May Haruka of Petalberg City."

"Your next challenge will be at the Nimbasa City gym with very stylish and electrifying Elesa," Burgh said as the group exited the Castellia City gym. "Good luck to both you and your other friends who challenged me earlier."

After leaving the gym, we headed back to the Pokémon Center to find that Misty had been waiting for us there because the Castellia gym was full of Bug-type Pokémon and she was still afraid of most Bug-types. As we got our Pokémon healed from the gym battle, I took upon myself to buy some items that we were going to need. But as I got to the counter, the clerk looked to me with interest.

"Are you May Haruka?" the clerk asked me.

"Yes I am," I answered the clerk nervously.

"I have a package for you and a Miss Hilda Touka," said the clerk as he produced a box that someone had left for Hilda and I. "The... lady with the scary shiny Tyranitar said that this package was for her two employees and they needed to be ready by time the fashion show in Nimbasa City started."

"You tried to hit on my sister, didn't you?" Relena asked the clerk as he was still shaking in terror from seeing Argon being defensive. "Not a smart idea, my friend."

"'Your first job will modeling at the next fashion show at the Nimbasa City gym,'" I read from the letter that Jessica left Hilda and I. "'You will be not only battling for your gym badges, but also strutting your stuff on the runway with the Pokémon that you choose to use in battle for your gym badge. Make sure you choose your Pokémon carefully and wisely. The Pokémon that you choose will also coincide with the outfits you will be wearing during the fashion show and gym battle. Notify me within the next week of your decision because Argon, Asami and I wish to get started on making the outfits that coincide with your choice of Pokémon for your gym battle. Both of you will partners competing to get your badge from Elesa, the Nimbasa City gym leader, as my client as already agreed to this as well. Choose wisely and I expect to hear from you two soon.

Sincerely,

Your employer, Jessica Kaiou'"

Both Hilda and I were a bit nervous as we were going to go through another fashion show. And this one was going to be part of a gym battle. Both Hilda and I hoped we could handle the gym leader and do a fashion show at the same time. I sighed as I looked in the box and saw that Hilda and I were given two dresses each. Hilda came over to me and I showed her the letter that Jessica had left for her and I. Hilda skimmed through the letter and out a depressing sigh. But... the bright side was that Jessica was going to pay us for modeling her clothing line. After looking at the dresses that were neatly packaged for us, Hilda and I looked at each other as we were going to have to make some tough choices especially with our next gym battle and Pokémon contest at the Palm Sun Oasis Resort, bordering the Desert Resort.

'Well, guess we have a challenge ahead of us, right ladies?' Victini asked me and Hilda with a slight grin on his face.

"Yes, yes we do," I answered with a confident look on my face. "But we'll get through it, no problem."

Author's note: Cut! Finally, the chapter's done. I hope that you keep reading this fic. Please leave reviews for the chapter and let me know what you think. I do appreciate the feedback you leave me.

Victini: 'Until next time faithful readers... Ja ne!'


	20. Chapter 18

**Jeanette: Sparky doesn't own Pokemon or the characters; those are the property of Game Freak, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company. Also Cameron and Shamus will not be in the story at all for various reasons either… Take it away Sparky!**

**Victini: Oh no, not you too! [breaks down in tears]**

**Jeanette: Relax, you'll get your turn soon…**

**Victini: You really mean it?**

**Jeanette: Of course! *kisses his forehead***

18: Enter the Dragon Buster and Dark Ball Destruction

Having won our third badges, we began to make our way towards the Palm Sun Oasis Resort where the next Pokemon Contest would be found, yet we made a few last minute preparations before we did so… One of the biggest surprises for me is that Jeanette gave her Cottonee to Anna as the female Grass/Fairy-Type wanted to help Ash's twin sister become a stronger trainer but the bigger shock was the fact that Ash himself choose to bring Bulbasaur back onto his team for the next Gym which we knew would be in Nimbasa City and its leader was none other than Elesa, yet I found myself smiling as I saw him letting Ayame, Latias, Gabite, Swadloon and Bulbasaur out of their Pokéballs for some training but I took Dexette out to scan the Grass/Poison-Type.

_Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokemon. For some time after its birth, it grows by gaining nourishment from the seed on its back._

Looking back as Ash was training his team, it makes me think of when he had Bulbasaur meeting mine back in Hoenn and when he used Bulbasaur, Charizard and Squirtle to defeat Brandon at the Battle Frontier, I'm sure that Bulbasaur would be able to help him again for old times. Then again, we were given a lucky break as so far we never encountered the trio from Team Rocket lately ever since encountering the Grunts and Team Plasma though I'd doubt those three would give up chasing us so easily.

'_Is that the first Starter __Pokémon__ that Papa caught?_' I heard Manaphy ask me as he was curious about Bulbasaur, which I gave him a simple nod as I remembered when Ash told me and Anna how he got Bulbasaur during his travels in Kanto and the fact he came from a hidden Pokemon Village surprised us, though I couldn't help but wish I could meet the girl who gave him his starter…. What was her name? Oh yeah, Melanie. Then again, I did get my Venusaur from a hidden garden back when she was a Bulbasaur and how her mother at first didn't trust humans.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me…" I realized something, turning my attention towards Hilda as I've been meaning to ask her. "When did you have a Pansear on your team, I don't recall you having it back when we took part in the Pokemon Contest."

"I got him right before that whole fiasco with that creep Harley back at the Pinwheel Forest… Still, I was surprised to even see a Pansear but it made sense due to the fact we encountered Pansage and Panpour prior to it. That Harley guy really hates you with a passion" she replied, though I was not too happy about the fact that Harley of all people was here in the Unova region, which I assume he might be planning to once again make me look bad like he tried to do at Kanto and Hoenn, though when I was in Johto, I learned my lesson and he never tricked me again but that didn't mean that he wouldn't make another attempt to do so. What really made me mad was that he tried to take away Hilda's Pokemon and Pokédex when he battled her after hearing more about what had happened, had it not been for Cobalion showing up to help her win, she wouldn't have been able to be a trainer anymore… just wait till I get my hands on him. "So it's true, you do know him huh?"

"Isn't it obvious and one time he actually joined forces with the Team Rocket trio, why in the name of Arceus would he stoop that low?" I muttered, gritting my teeth and more so as Victini was busy interacting with Munchlax, Taillow, my newly evolved Sawsbuck, Manaphy and Braxien which is a good way for him to keep his mind off of cute girls at least for now, though if it didn't then Katsumi might step in. "Let me tell you this, if he ever shows himself again, tell me and I'll be sure to give him a world of pain."

"Just be sure to leave some of him left for me…" added Hilda, just as angry as I was at the thought of seeing Harley again as we both wanted to teach him a lesson he won't ever forget, sure he wasn't as bad as Paul but is still bad never the less plus we were training our own Pokemon just in case he does show up.

Yet as we were training, there was someone who approached up, she had dark pink hair, blue eyes, had a yellow hat, light yellow gloves, and the outfit she wore was a mix of dark green and a lighter shade of green and from the way she was dressed, it showed that she was a Pokemon Trainer. I then saw her smirk the moment she saw Ash's Gabite and Latias among his team. "Well, well… would you look at that, I found a trainer with a Dragon-Type Pokemon or should I say two…" she said, she looked pretty confident by the expression on her face as she spoke to Ash. "The name's Georgia and I'm a Dragon Buster."

"A Dragon Buster?" asked Ash, though Hilda and I were just as dumbfounded as he was when we heard that term, while we encountered different trainer-classes throughout our journey, never have we seen or heard of the Dragon Buster before.

"You see, my thing is to defeat Dragon-Type Pokemon and it seems this is my lucky day to find a skilled trainer with one" she replied, luckily Iris wasn't there as I doubt it would have gone too well if she was still with us and it was for the best since I never did like it whenever she called me and Ash a couple of kids.

"Okay Georgia, what's with your obsession with taking on Dragon-Type Pokemon?" I decided to ask Georgia, sure she isn't anything like Paul or Harley but I needed to be certain that I am hearing right just to be on the safe side. "Is there some kind of reason for this?"

"A long time ago, my Pokemon and I were badly beaten in a Pokemon Battle at the village of Dragons..." she explained, however none of us ever heard of this village of Dragons in our lives and it makes me wonder if Iris came from there herself, having never told us any of that before she previously left. "However, you'll be a good warm-up for my team! That is if you're not afraid…"

"No way am I afraid, I accept your challenge!" my fiancé responded, while Hilda and I gave a small sigh, having a feeling something like this would happen, something even Pikachu would agree on since this is Ash after all as the two trainers prepared for their upcoming battle. "How many Pokemon are we each using?"

"Let's make it a three on three match; just to make it easy on yourself!" smirked the Dragon Buster, taking out her first Pokéball and prepared to throw it. "Beartic, I choose you!" she yelled, releasing a polar-bear like Pokemon into the battle field and Ash took his Pokédex out to learn more about it.

_Beartic, the Freezing Pokemon. Beartic's frozen breath can create fangs and claws made of ice. It lives in frigid northern areas._

Frowning, Ash realized that he could have brought his Pignite or Scraggy into the battle, though they are with Professor Oak along with Quilava, Torkoal, Heracross, Meloetta and even his Infernape and he was about to send Ayame when he saw Bulbasaur stepping up. Let me handle this guy… he said to his trainer, much to his surprise. _We don't know if he's her strongest Pokemon or if she has more powerful ones she is saving for later._

"Are you sure Bulbasaur?" asked Ash, which his Kanto Grass/Poison-Type nodded his head to confirm that he won't back down, remembering they had faced other opponents beforehand. "Alright, let's do this!"

"You have got to be kidding me, you of all people know Grass-Type Pokemon are weak to Ice-Types…" commented Georgia, finding it a bit amusing to see a small Grass-Type like Bulbasaur against her Beartic, even mentally knew she had a good point and wondered what Ash was thinking.

"Alright Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" ordered Ash, which Bulbasaur extended the vines from the bulb on his back right at Beartic.

"Dodge it and counter with Slash!" Beartic wasted no time in avoiding the Grass-Type move and scored a direct hit on his opponent with his glowing claws. "Now use your Icicle Crash!"

As Beartic exhaled a powerful wind with light blue sparkles in it after taking a deep breath. Small clumps of Ice formed from the wind and grew longer and larger until they took on the form of sharp icicles that rained down over Bulbasaur. "Quick use Razor Leaf now!" Ash told his Pokemon, leading to the Seed Pokemon firing leafs that managed to shatter the icicles enough to stop the attack. "Alright, use Earthquake!"

Bulbasaur stomped his two front feet onto the ground, causing a tremor which managed to hit Beartic, almost knocking the larger Pokemon off its feet. "Not bad for a Grass-Type, but let's see how you fair against this… use Ice Beam!"

"Dodge it!" Ash countered back, Bulbasaur narrowly avoiding the Ice-Type attack and struck back with a Take Down, hitting Beartic dead on in the chest. "Way to go Bulbasaur!"

"I have to admit, Ash is doing a pretty good job with a Grass-Type like Bulbasaur" said Hilda, rather impressed by the way Bulbasaur was able to hold his own despite the Type-Disadvantage he currently had and I had to agree, more so as that is why he won the Battle Frontier, the Sinnoh League and the Orange League to begin with. However, we saw that Georgia was smirking for some reason as that is never a good sign.

"Okay then… if that's how you want it… use Frost Breath!" she ordered, to our shock, Beartic exhaled from his mouth, snow and a wind with sparkling blue powered was released before Bulbasaur could even react, making me remember when Cress' Panpour managed to defeat Deerling with Ice Beam, more so as Bulbasaur ended up knocked away right before landing near Ash's feet. "Looks like he's unable to battle, just when he was actually putting up a good fight…"

To her surprise, he wasn't knocked out despite the critical hit and super effective damage from the Frost Breath as he was barely starting to get back up, a sign that he wasn't going to be taken down by this attack. "Bulbasaur, do you want to quit?" asked Ash, as he looked ready to recall his Pokemon but the determination on his friend's face showed otherwise.

_No, I think I can still battle… I refuse to lose to this guy or his trainer…_' he spoke, letting out a yell as a flash of white light formed around him which meant only one thing…. He was evolving, much to our surprise as we saw the bulb on his back beginning to bloom as he changed, after nearly a few seconds the light faded and he now had two pointed teeth protruding his upper jaw and the bulb was now a large pink bud supported by a short brown trunk surrounded by leafy green fronds. "Ivysaur!"

"Bulbasaur evolved into an Ivysaur!" began Hilda in surprise; I was just as surprised as Hilda was as Manaphy looked in awe from on my left shoulder.

I took Dexette out once more with a small smile on my face. "Let's see what Dexette has to say…"

_Ivysaur, the Seed Pokemon and the evolved form of Bulbasaur. When the bud on its back starts swelling, a sweet aroma wafts to indicate the flower's coming bloom._

Ash and Pikachu were surprised at the fact Bulbasaur evolved, though they recalled when he choose not to do so back at the Mysterious Garden despite that he was close to becoming Ivysaur before but this time, it was unavoidable and they had a feeling he wouldn't be happy with that, for now they needed not to worry about it. "Ivysaur, you ready for our comeback?" he asked, wanting to be absolutely sure he still wished to take on Georgia's Beartic.

I_ am, no matter what…_' he replied to his trainer then turned his attention back towards Georgia and Beartic, who were looking eager to see what the Grass/Poison-Type can do now that he's an Ivysaur.

"So it looks like your Pokemon evolved, now it seems I might get some real fun…" she glanced at her Ice-Type and nodded, turning to her opponents once again. "Beartic, strike him with Ice Beam!"

As_ you wish!_' he replied to his trainer, letting out another Ice Beam but this time Ash had a plan to help take down the opposing Pokemon, he needed to be sure his combination would work.

"Use Sunny Day and Solarbeam now!" he said, with Ivysaur's eyes becoming fiery as the bud on his back let out a white beam into the sky which caused the sun to shine brighter than it normally did moments before the Ice Beam was unleashed and then used his strongest attack, which now didn't need time to charge up due to the effects of Sunny Day. As both attacks collided, an explosion occurred and smoke filled the entire battlefield.

"What the?!" exclaimed Georgia, though Hilda and I realized what Ash did, normally Solarbeam would need to be charged up with enough time but seeing as he had Ivysaur use Sunny Day before-hand, he could use the Solarbeam immediately.

"Now use your Synthesis!" Ivysaur's bud started to glow in a white light and he felt himself becoming rejuvenated after the previous hit he had taken from that Frost Breath attack, plus it helped even more due to Sunny Day's effect moments before the smoke cleared which neither Hilda or I would even imagine Ash ever coming up with that kind of combination before.

"Icicle Crash, we need to take him down a notch!" said Georgia, which Beartic let out another Icicle Crash attack but Ivysaur managed to use his vines to jump high enough to avoid the attack at hand.

"Ivysaur, use your Leech Seed!" ordered Ash, as Ivysaur launched a seed from the bud and it landed on Beartic before he could react, starting to feel energy being sucked away upon being seeded much to Georgia's shock. "Next use Razor Leaf!"

A stream of leafs shot out, scoring a direct hit on Beartic and caused him to kneel down to the ground, which meant that one more attack would end this round as Ash needed to make this attack count.

"Now let's end this, Solarbeam!"

"Ice Beam!" both Pokemon let out their attacks, causing a struggle to take place as one wanted to overpower the other, both trainers watched as the attacks but to our shock… it was Solarbeam that overpowered the Ice Beam due to Beartic being weakened by Leech Seed and is more than enough to take the powerful Ice-Type down. "Beartic!"

"Way to go Ivysaur!" Ash was happy to see they were able to win round one, which Ivysaur sent his trainer a smile despite the decision he ended up making previously and as Georgia recalled her Pokemon, she took a brief glance at my fiancé.

"Not bad, I have to admit that you only won round one… get ready for the next round of this match, go Pawniard!" she sent the next Pokemon, which surprised us as we expected another Ice-Type but we were wrong and I looked at Dexette to see what it was.

_Pawniard, the Sharp Blade Pokemon. Pawniard's entire body is made of blades which it uses to inflict damage on its opponents._

"Looks like it's a pretty tough Pokemon, but I'm sure Ash can beat it…" I said, watching Ash calling Ivysaur back and then sent his Gabite to face this opponent, figuring that he needed to save Ivysaur and I'm assuming Ayame for the third Pokemon that Georgia has with her yet the pink-haired Dragon Buster smirked as she was hoping that he would eventually bring out one of his two Dragon-Types.

It was then that Hilbert, Misty, Anna and Jeanette joined with us. "Hey, what's going on here?" wondered Hilda's boyfriend, noticing that Ash was in a battle of some kind and didn't recognize who he was up against. "Why is Ash in a battle, come to think of it who is this girl?"

"Her name is Georgia, she's a Dragon Buster and she wants to bring down Ash's Latias and Gabite" explained Hilda, though Georgia may be unaware that Latias isn't just a Dragon-Type but a Legendary Pokemon herself or the fact that she herself had Zekrom and Hilbert had Reshiram. "She seems confident that she could bring them down, unlikely."

"By the way, where is Relena?" I asked, wondering about where Relena had gone off to especially as she said she needed to train a bit next time we encounter Team Plasma or any of our own foes… though she also warned us of another villainous Team called Trident from the Atlantica Islands. "Last I heard from her, she was training her Pokemon... especially Ren and Dearka."

"She'll rejoin us in a bit but right now Ren seemed a bit disappointed that she won't be spending time with Snivy for a while though I don't blame her as there were three attacks Snivy needed to learn from her and Relena" answered Misty, having learned that Relena's Snivy nicknamed Ren was the sister of Ash's Snivy, something that none of us knew about until recently while Dearka was a Porygon, a Pokemon created by the Silph. Co but the last time Ash and Misty ever saw one was during their travels in Kanto when they helped Dr. Akihabara and his Porygon stop the Rocket trio from using the Porygon they stole to take possession of every Pokemon that was being sent to the Pokemon Center. "On the positive side, I managed to catch a female Frillish and a Ducklett."

"That's great, I'm sure those Water-Types can help you big time!" I told her with a light smile on my face, though I was also surprised when Misty wished to battle me later but it would be great to face her in an actual match, for now we need to focus on seeing Ash's battle with Georgia and see if he can win.

"Yeah, plus I was surprised when I learned that you won the Johto Grand-Festival and participated in the Wallace Cup" explained Misty, having heard that Ash, Brock and I were in the Wallace Cup though Dawn won it in the end, the two of us were surprised to be evenly matched with my Glaceon facing her Piplup. "You should be proud of that accomplishment and for keeping Ash out of trouble I might add."

I nodded my head, then again it was good to be interacting with Misty again after so long and at times I was surprised she still had her Magical Mermaid costume with her, during a moonlight swim last night, it was my first time seeing her in that outfit while Ash had seen it on her before back when he and Brock saw a play at the Cerulean City Gym with her as the starring role, and with the moon shining down on her at the time I saw her diving into the water that very moment, I'd thought she became a real mermaid.

"Alright, let's see how your Dragon-Type handles this…" smirked Georgia, ordering her Pawniard to go onto the offensive with an attack that she was taught to deal with Dragon-Types like Gabite. "Use Dual Chop now!"

_On_ it!' said Pawniard, jumping up at Gabite and was now diving down towards the Dragon/Ground-Type with both claws glowing green.

"Dodge it!" ordered Ash, quickly commanding his Gabite to move out of the way since he didn't want to take any chances against Georgia and knew two attacks that can help take the female Steel/Dark-Type down. "Now use your Dig attack now!"

Gotcha, here I go!' roared Gabite, burrowing into the ground yet Georgia wasn't stupid as she knew that standing in one place waiting for Gabite to come out would result in Pawniard taking damage so she needed to plan it careful and have her Pokemon ready for when he emerges from below.

she thought to herself as she nodded to Pawniard, as she couldn't attack due to Gabite's semi-invulnerable state while using Dig so she decided to go with a different approach to win this round.

As Gabite was coming up it seemed like Georgia was making her plan go into motion. She had an evil smirk on her face as she readied her own plan. As Gabite surfaced to complete his strike on Pawniard, Georgia made her move.

"Now Pawniard! Let the Dig hit you and counter back with Assurance," ordered Georgia.

The Dark/Steel-type Pokémon gave a slight nod and allowed Gabite to hit him, even though it caused critical damage to her. As Pawniard recovered, she lashed back at Gabite, expecting to knock down Ash's Ground/Dragon-type Pokémon. However, this plan was a mistake as both Georgia and Pawniard failed to notice that Gabite had a Rocky Helmet he was holding on to and apparently caused some additional damage then just like the Rocky Helmet did as Pawniard fainted.

"Wha? What the heck just happened?" demanded Georgia. "What kind of ability does your Gabite have?"

"Well... I thought it was Sand Veil," answered Ash.

'Your Gabite must have the Rough Skin ability and must be from the Dream World to have that Rough Skin ability rather having Sand Veil,' Victini explained to Ash.

"Is that true Gabite?" Ash asked Gabite.

Gabite said nothing but gave Ash a slight nod as his answer. With a grin on his face, Ash certainly happy that Gabite had pulled off an unexpected victory. Ash had followed Relena's advice about giving Gabite the Rocky Helmet and wondered why Relena had said in Sinnoh that his Dragon-type Pokémon was a very special Pokémon. Learning from Victini's explanation of Gabite's origin and his different ability made sense to us... Well, maybe it took Ash a little longer to process, but he got it... eventually. Georgia gritted her teeth as she wasn't happy that she overlooked the Rocky Helmet and that Ash's Gabite was from the Dream World with the Rough Skin ability. With her last Pokéball in hand, she tossed it up, as she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Alright Vanillish, let's go!" exclaimed Georgia.

Letting off a huff of annoyance, I had just about had enough of Georgia's ego and I was going to end the fighting. Looking to Victini, who gave a slight nod in agreement, I felt it was time to end Georgia's little ego-driven crusade to end with Victini and I ending it. Taking a step forward, Victini and I took Ash's place. Georgia took one look at me with a confused look on her face.

"What is this?" asked a confused Georgia.

'My dear, your little crusade of beating Dragon-type Pokémon is getting out of hand,' Victini explained to Georgia.

"So we're ending it right now," I finished for Victini with an upset tone. "Let's go Victini."

'I'm with you, May,' Victini replied with a grin on his face. 'Let's light this Ice-type Pokémon up.'

"Wha? May? Victini?" Ash asked me and my furry companion. "What are you guys doing? I can handle this battle."

'We can take from here, Ash,' Victini said calmly. 'Besides, this girl is really getting annoying.

Looking to me Victini finished, 'I'm ready bust the Dragon Buster. How about you May?'

Giving my Fire/Psychic-Type a slight nod, he left my shoulder and took a fighting stance as he was ready to take down her last Pokémon.

"You're not my intended target," Georgia tried to explain to me and Victini, "so just do me a favor and stand aside. My Vanillish is quite powerful and I know how to deal with Fire-type Pokémon too."

"I'm not going to stand by and let your little ego-driven crusade against trainers who have Dragon-type Pokémon spill over to my fiancé," I lashed back at Georgia.

"Huh? That guy's your fiancé?" Georgia asked me in puzzlement at first.

I gave Georgia a slight nod as my answer. For a moment it seemed that the Dragon Buster studied Ash and then gave a smirk.

"I gotta say, you've got good taste in guys," Georgia said to me. "He's definitely a keeper for you."

"Thank you," I replied calmly, "but I'm still ending your little ego-driven crusade, against Ash."

Georgia huffed a sigh as if she had been trying to get me to see reason but failed. Looking at Victini, she then had an evil grin on her face as she said to herself aloud, "I've always wanted to take down a legendary Pokémon. I guess I've been given quite the opportunity to defeat one. Once I've defeated that little rat, I can establish myself as a Legendary Buster along with being a Dragon Buster."

'Not going to happen,' Victini said as he powered up his Flame Charge attack and charged right Georgia's Vanillish as his Speed increased and the Ice-type Pokémon was caught off guard when my silly little buddy launched his surprise attack at the Icy Snow Pokémon and knocked her out in one move. This attack caused Georgia to widen her eyes in shock as Victini took down her Ice-type in one move.

'And that's why you never drop your guard against a small, cute and furry little lady-killer,' Victini said to Georgia as he showed off his cute appeal.

"Crap... I never expected that Victini would do that to me," Georgia said aloud.

"It's your fault for not staying on guard," I replied to Georgia.

Georgia then collapsed to the ground on her knees with eyes widened as I strode past her with everyone else filing past her. I partially felt sorry for her, but then again she was taking her frustration out on my fiancé and I wasn't going to stand for it, then again she was starting to see that both Ash and I were strong opponents with a small smile on her face beginning to form as we left. "Looks like I'll have some serious training to do" she commented to herself, while secretly hoping to battle us again when she gets stronger.

As we walked away Victini's ears began to twitch as he seemed to hear someone coming behind and was coming quickly. We turned around to see that a couple was coming towards us. I recognized the woman coming as the Grass-Type gym leader of Celadon City, Erika. I remembered her from seeing her at a contest in Olivine City. She was a guest judge for the contest and thanks to her husband's keen eyes, I wouldn't have gotten my last contest ribbon if he hadn't spotted Harley's attempt at cheating. Yes that's right, I said 'her husband.' Erika had gotten married to a mysterious looking hottie and looked as if he was a human version of the legendary Grass/Psychic-Type Pokémon Celebi. The Celadon City gym leader was wearing a teal green and white dress, had blue hair and green eyes and had a red hair band in her hair. The hottie with her was a head taller than Erika, tan complexion, lime light green hair, baby blue eyes, lime light green sleeveless vest over a forest green shirt and cargo pants, a gold and silver Pokéball on a necklace, with GS craved into the gold half, a wedding band on his ring finger and he wore no shoes on his feet. They were coming with Relena and Richie behind them, riding on the backs of their respective Pokémon.

"I see everyone's here," Relena said as she got off of Aurora's back. "Some of you guys require an introduction to these two lovebirds who followed Richie and I."

"We... followed you?" asked Erika, in playful tone.

"Keep telling yourself that, Lady Relena," joked the hottie next to Erika.

When I took a closer look at Erika and the man next to her, I could tell that both of them wore a wedding band each on their ring finger. That meant that they were married to each other. I could only guess that Relena must've introduced them to each other at some point of her journey before joining us.

"Hilda, Hilbert, Cilan... Georgia, I'd like to introduce you to the Grass-Type gym leader of Celadon City, Erika Sakura and her husband Ilex Sakura," Relena said to our three Unova traveling friends and the defeated Dragon Buster.

"You're kidding, right?" Georgia asked Relena in a dumbfounded and insulting tone. "That hottie is married to her?"

"Yes I am married to her," Ilex answered quickly as he noticed that Erika was upset by Georgia's question and the tone that she used. "Is there a problem with that?"

Georgia was still in awe of Ilex, yet still couldn't believe that he was married to Erika. Ilex was certainly protective of Erika as he noticed that she calmed down and had a smile on her face.

"Wait... EH?!" most of us asked in shock as Relena told us about Ilex's past.

'I had a feeling that you were once a Pokémon,' Victini said as he was calm. 'This kinda seems like that one fairy tale you humans tell your children. I think it was... The Princess and the... Oh what am I trying to think of?'

"The Princess and the Politoed?" asked Ilex as he was trying to help my silly little buddy.

'Yes! That's it!' exclaimed Victini as he pointed to Ilex.

"Why did you wanna become a human?" Ash asked Ilex as it seemed that he was familiar with Ilex. "It seems kinda weird that a Pokémon wants to become a human."

"Indeed, it does seem kind of weird," agreed Ilex. "But it is good to see you again Ash, especially after the Ilex Forest."

Ash seemed hesitant at first, but gave Ilex a slight nod in agreement. I guess Ilex used to be the Celebi that lived in the Ilex Forest back in the Johto region. Some of us were curious to know how no one knew about Ilex's true past. That was when Erika spoke up.

"I tell people that Ilex was a childhood friend and sweetheart of mine before he moved to the Johto region," explained Erika. "No one has ever since asked me about Ilex's past. Not even Giovanni and all his little henchmen know the truth about Ilex."

'Whatever works for you two, I suppose,' Victini said to Ilex and Erika from my left shoulder. 'But why is this Giovanni guy so dangerous?'

"He's the leader of Team Rocket from Kanto region," Relena answered Victini. "That guy is dug in pretty good too because no one has been able to take him and his organization down."

"We have encountered other criminal syndicates in other regions before coming to Unova," Ash said to Hilda, Hilbert, Cilan and Victini.

"But it seems like some of your enemies are coming after you," commented Hilda.

"Enemies?" asked a surprised Erika as she looked to Ash and I. "How many enemies have two made?"

"Quite a bit," answered Ash. "Got Team Galactic from Sinnoh, Barron Alberto from Alamos Town, Team Aqua from May's home region, another nutcase from Sinnoh named Zero, Team Rocket, of course and the Iron-Masked Marauder..."

"What? I thought that wicked man was locked away, never to be heard from," said Ilex as he was in shock at the name of villainous member of Team Rocket.

I shook my head as I explained, "Unfortunately, he broke out and tried to capture one of the legendary beasts since he couldn't find you. I was fortunate to have some backup and thwarted both of his plans to take Entei and Raikou. As for Suicune, he was intent on revenge against Suicune because he helped Ash thwart his first plan to take Celebi."

Erika gently wrapped her arms around Ilex's waist and laid her head on his left shoulder. Victini had a scowl on his face as it seemed that he was upset that Erika was out of his reach when he saw her wedding band. When I noticed Victini's scowl on his face, I had a smirk on my own face. It seemed for the first time, I knew that Victini had come face-to-face with his limits on trying to hit on the pretty girls. So only if a pretty woman had on wedding ring on her ring finger, Victini would keep away from them. Victini then noticed the smirk on my face and was a little upset with my smirk.

'What's with the smirk on your face?' Victini asked me and was clearly upset. 'Even I have some decency and know better than to try and hit on a married woman

"Sorry, sorry," I replied to my upset Victini. "I just couldn't help myself when I saw that you had that scowl on your face. But I am glad to know that you know your limits when it comes to hitting on women."

"Ahem," said Ilex as he cleared his throat, "are there any other enemies that we need to know about before we head towards your next destination?"

"Well... there is the local criminal syndicate here in Unova," spoke up Hilbert.

"They're known as Team Plasma," added Hilda. "They had been saying that they wanted to free Pokémon from the control of humans."

'Humph, that was just a stupid front for them,' Victini snorted in disgust. 'And they would've kept it up had they still had me with them.'

"Why's that, my little friend?" Ilex asked Victini.

'That's quite easy, friend,' Victini answered Ilex. 'My power grants people and Pokémon the ability to win a battle regardless of the circumstance. They were gonna use my power to make their Pokémon stronger if trainers didn't release their Pokémon.'

"Oh you poor thing," Erika said as she took Victini off my shoulder and gently hugged him and gave him a peck kiss on his forehead, much to his delight.

'L-Lady Erika, a-are you sure this is alright?' Victini asked the Celadon gym leader as he was blushing despite getting the attention and affection that he wanted. 'Y-You are a-a married woman. N-Not to mention that I don't hit on married women for a-attention and a-affection.'

"Just because I'm a married woman, doesn't mean that I can't give a Pokémon a little attention and affection," Erika said to Victini gently. "Besides, Ilex isn't upset with you. Right, my loveable Celebi?"

"Just to don't get a swelled head about it," Ilex sternly cautioned Victini.

However before Victini could speak, we heard explosions coming from the road towards Palm Sun Oasis. Putting aside Victini's quandary, he came back to my left shoulder, while Manaphy still hung on to my right shoulder. Moving quickly to the source of the explosions, we found that some trainers were injured and had their Pokéballs stolen from them. We were very lucky that Relena was there, because she began tending to those who were injured, using her healing magic to heal their wounds. Cilan and Erika also helped as well, tending to those who hadn't been healed by Relena or were making sure that they were fully healed.

"My precious Samurott... stolen from me," said a trainer who had come for the Pokémon contest. "And my precious Swanna... I grew up with her as a child and now she's.. gone."

'Who did this awful and terrible thing to you?' Victini asked the female trainer. 'Was it those goons from Team Plasma?'

"S-Some of them were dressed in a medieval-like outfit and the others looked like masked pirates," answered the female trainer. "Those two were my pride and joy and I wanted to showcase them for the contest."

'My dear, we will get them back for you and anyone else who has lost their Pokémon companions,' Victini said to the female trainer as he held her hand gently and kissed it. 'No one should lose their Pokémon companions to dishonorable thieves.'

'Those vile Team Plasma brutes,' Victini snarled telepathically. 'How dare they forcefully steal Pokémon from good people. Who are they to decide that humans and Pokémon must separate? Hypocrites are what they are.'

'_Relax Brother Victini, we'll get back the stolen Pokémon,_' Manaphy said to Victini.

It wasn't long until we came across another trainer who lost their Pokémon to those Team Plasma idiots. After hearing this trainer mourning getting their Pokémon stolen, the group decided that we couldn't stomach hearing another trainer complain about losing their Pokémon and that we needed to do something about it. But as we journeyed onward, it seemed that our least favorite trio was already on the case and had been battling Team Plasma given that several Team Plasma goons were already unconscious and some had injuries themselves. We finally caught up and saw that Jessie, James and Meowth's steady advance had been halted.

"Well, look what da other Meowth dragged in," Meowth said to his companions. "It's da twerp troop who finally decided to show up."

'Save your smart alack comments for later, Kanto Scratch Cat Pokémon,' Victini said to Meowth in an irritated tone. 'I'm not exactly in the mood to hear them. Let's clean these Team Plasma buffoons out of all the Pokémon they stole and return them to their rightful owners.'

Team Rocket was certainly taken aback by Victini's irritated tone. Sure they knew that he got serious, but they never saw Victini this serious. I guess Team Plasma really affected him much more than than what he told us. We joined up with the dastardly trio and began battling the Team Plasma goons to help get some pressure off the trio's backs. As we battled the minions, we began to notice that some them carried the same evil Pokéball that was used by the Iron-Masked Marauder, the Dark Ball. Ilex was certainly disgusted at the sight of vile Pokéball.

"Guess they've been keeping the stolen Pokémon in those Dark Balls," said Jessie as she was about to stomp on the first Dark Ball that contained an infected Samurott.

"Wait, let me handle those Pokémon that have been ailed with the affliction of darkness," Ilex said to Jessie as he brandished his GS Ball that Ash had apparently delivered to the Pokéball maker, Kurt, in Azalea Town back in Johto. "My purification charm purifies Pokémon that have been afflicted by the power of darkness."

Using his Pokéball charm, he concentrated power from it and was able to purify affected Samurott. The Water-type Pokémon awoke from what appeared to be a state of unconsciousness and was slow to get up under her own power. Ilex helped the female Samurott up on her feet and it took a few moments for the Samurott to stand properly.

'_Ow... my head hurts,_' said the Samurott. '_The last thing I remembered was that my trainer was training me and Swanna for that contest. Before we knew it, some evil humans came with wicked looking Pokéballs and caught Swanna first and then tried to capture me in it._'

'Did you fight back?' Victini asked Samurott.

'_Of course I fought back, little Fire-type,_' answered the female Formidable Pokémon. '_I fought back as hard as I could. Then those crooks cheated and captured me even though I was winning. I would've won Swanna's freedom had they not cheated._'

'Where is your Water/Flying-type companion?' Victini asked Samurott.

'_I'm not sure where she is,_' answered Samurott. '_The last thing I remember is some wicked human in a mask used the same kind of evil looking spherical capture device on Swanna and was heading in the direction of the Desert Resort... saying that he was going to destroy some human named Giovanni. That's all I remember._'

"You did well, friend," Ilex said to Samurott as it was apparently clear that he was upset when Samurott mentioned the Iron-Masked Marauder.

As we began to follow the trail of the Iron-Masked Marauder, we hadn't noticed that another couple had brushed past us and the tan skinned man was certainly upset about something. Before we could think about the tan skinned man that went ahead of us in direction of the Desert Resort, we were ambushed by some members of Team Plasma.

"Well, well, look who just got caught in our little trap," snickered one member of Team Plasma in his pirate-like garb. "Let's take their Pokémon and then make sure we kill them."

"Yeah, Lord Ghetsis said to leave no witnesses alive," replied his comrade in the medieval-like outfit.

'Humph, truly deplorable,' snarled Victini as he glared at the Team Plasma members. 'You wicked humans... resorting to killing the youth of humanity. How low will your wickedness go?'

"Anyone who hinders Lord Ghetsis's mission to control all Pokémon will die, children included," the pirate-like member of Team Plasma said in sickly wicked tone.

"Well, that's not going to happen," shot back Ash as he readied his first Pokéball. "Let's go Snivy!"

Ash's Grass Snake Pokémon came as she definitely had daggers in her eyes, especially after hearing the members of Team Plasma mentioning that they were going to kill anyone in their way. Regardless of what Snivy or any other thought, the two Team Plasma goons were preparing to try and take our Pokémon from us, so we were going to have to really fight for our lives and our Pokémon as well more so as Jeanette's Whimsicott joined with her fellow Grass-Type in this confrontation with her elegant trainer giving her an approving nod. Both Team Plasma members sent out their own Pokémon against us. Each of them sent out three Pokémon trying to outnumber and overpower us. Both of them had a Sandile each along other Pokémon too. Both of them each had a Dark-type Pokémon and both of them had a different third Pokémon. The pirate had a Watchog and the medieval-like member had a Garbodor. Before Ash or Jeanette could try to make a move, Relena had stepped forward with her shiny Gardevoir at her side.

"We'll handle these jokers, right Michiru?" Relena asked her faithful companion as she then revealed what looked like a bracelet and then put it on her left wrist.

As for Michiru, she reached for an item that looked like a gemstone on a necklace and then brandished it. She then looked to Relena and replied, 'Yes. We can certainly handle these jokers. they're nothing to the power that I have.'

"Now we're talking," Relena said eagerly with a smirk on her face. "Let's show them how we deal jokers who think they can steal from people."

"You honestly think that you can defeat six Pokémon all at once?" challenged the medieval-like member of Team Plasma.

'_We don't think we can defeat you,_' shot back Michiru. '_We know that we can defeat you all at once._'

"Let us give you a demonstration," added Relena as she pressed a button on bracelet.

We stood there watching in awe as the bracelet glowed as well as the gem on Michiru's necklace. For a brief moment, we were blinded as Michiru was enveloped in the light and came out looking a lot different then before. She looked like she was going to a ball and had what looked like a black ballroom dress, gloves and the horn on her chest had somehow split open as if it were some sort of flower.

'_Ahh, now I can show you what happens to dishonorable thieves when they steal from innocent Pokémon trainers,_' said Michiru as she appeared ready to tackle the Team Plasma members.

"Michiru, Dazzling Gleam," Relena said in an icy tone.

'_It would be my pleasure, Relena,_' said Michiru, in the same icy tone that her trainer had, before unleashing such a powerful attack knocking out most of the six Pokémon in one move.

All of us were shocked to see that such a move could damage multiple opponents at once. We knew that Earthquake and Surf could damage multiple opponents at once, but we had no idea that this Dazzling Gleam attack could do such damage and be so powerful too.

'_Nooo... how could a Fairy-Type attack take me, a Poison-Type Pokémon, down in one move?_' asked the Garbodor it fell in defeat.

'_Because my Special Attack is very high, compared to your Special Defense stat,_' answered Michiru.

'_N-No... I won't fall,_' stammered the pirate-like member's Dark-type Desert Croc Pokémon as it began to evolve, refusing to be defeated.

After it evolved, it grown taller, have hind legs same tan skin and black stripes all over it's body. The Dark-type Pokémon then had grin his face, thinking that he was gaining the upper hand on Michiru. I knew one thing was certain, he was most definitely wrong, because I knew Michiru very well. And I also knew that she had hidden surprises and I was pretty sure that Michiru had another hidden surprise.

'_I'm coming for you,_' the recently evolved Desert Croc Pokémon said to Michiru as he charged at Michiru.

'_You're not going to raise your physical attack stat with your Moxie ability,_' countered Michiru as she was completely cool, calm and collected. '_Because..._'

"Michiru is going to finish you off with her Return attack," finished Relena after taking a deep breath.

Relena's shiny Embrace Pokémon then charged at the Desert Croc Pokémon with her right fist charging up with a bright rainbow of colors. Michiru then sent her powered up and brightly colored right fist the Desert Croc Pokémon, known as Krokorok according to my Pokédex, and sent it at his face, cleaning his clock. The Krokorok finally fell in defeat with circles in his eyes and a trainer who has really pissed off. Gritting his teeth, he recalled his fallen Pokémon and shot a glare at Michiru as she returned to normal form.

"Grr... you got lucky, that's all!" exclaimed the pirate-like member of Team Plasma. "But you can count on us to be back for revenge! You hear me?! REVENGE!"

Once the two members of Team Plasma left, most of us were glaring at Relena and Richie as it seemed they were hiding something from us and it had something to do with Michiru's ability to change form with that gem on her necklace.

"Alright Relena, I think you've got some explaining to do," Ash said angrily. "You and Richie have explaining to do."

'Ash, Ash, why must you be angry at such a beautiful and flawless flower of the sea?' Victini asked my fiancé as he turned to Relena... seeking affection as always.

Instead of answering Victini, he just grabbed Victini by his left ear and lightly tossed him in my direction leaving my silly little buddy really dizzy. Richie said nothing as he let out a long sigh because Ash was definitely angry at him and his fiancée. As for Relena, she remained calm and didn't even flinch when Ash became angry at her.

"Yeah, Relena what was that? That thing your Gardevoir did against those Team Plasma goons?" asked Hilda as she wasn't as angry as Ash, but still a bit upset with her.

With angry stares bearing down on her, Relena let out a small sigh as she recalled Michiru into her Cherish Ball. Aurora looked as if he was going to pounce on Ash. But before Aurora could so, Relena waved him off.

"It's alright Father, they have a right to be upset with us," Relena said to her surrogate father.

'Are you sure?' asked Aurora as he cocked his head in puzzlement.

"We did keep them from knowing about Mega Evolution, Aurora," replied Richie before looking to the group. "But we also had our reasons for keeping it from you."

"Mega Evolution is incredibly powerful. A Mega Pokemon can easily fight on par with a Legendary Pokemon." Relena explained to us, keeping her voice low as if she wanted to make sure that nobody could hear her aside from us. "But all this power can be very dangerous to a Pokemon that is not yet used to it. A Pokemon may go berserk and start attacking everything in sight, becoming a danger both to himself and his trainer, not to mention to everyone around. Therefore, Mega Evolution is something that must be used very carefully. Also, it is not something that can just be achieved by bonding with your Pokemon, and that's about it. You need a special item called Mega Stone to give your Pokemon in order to activate it. Which also means that a Pokemon who is to Mega Evolve cannot hold any other object that might be useful. And even the Mega Stone by itself isn't enough… a Trainer must also be holding a Mega Ring, which resonates with the Mega Stone to activate the evolution."

"I understand." Ash said, his anger fading away somewhat. "I understand what you mean, and I can see why you didn't want to talk about it just now. But still, you know you can trust us, and we wouldn't go telling everyone about Mega Evolution."

"We know that." Richie answered. "But still, we couldn't just take a risk. If Team Plasma or Team Rocket were to know about Mega Evolution, it would be a disaster. Just imagine what they would do if they were to get their hands on Mega Pokemon."

"I wouldn't want that to happen, that's for sure." I answered, shuddering a little at the idea. With a small army of Mega Pokemon at their beck and call, those criminals would easily conquer Unova… "It was prudent of you to keep it to yourselves. But can I ask one thing? How many Pokemon can Mega Evolve, other than Gardevoir of course?"

Relena rubbed her chin for a second. "Well… aside from Gardevoir, which you have seen right now, there are also Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Alakazam, Gengar, Kangaskhan, Pinsir, Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Mewtwo, Ampharos, Scizor, Heracross, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Sableye, Mawile, Aggron, Medicham, Manectric, Banette, Absol, Metagross, Garchomp, Lucario, Abomasnow… and Diancie, a Legendary Pokemon from the region of Kalos." She counted, remembering every single Pokemon known to have a Mega Evolution. Needless to say, my boyfriend was very pleased to know about some of them… and I'll admit, I did think it would be cool if my Blaziken could evolve like that. Who knows what he would have looked like?

"Wow… this is very interesting!" Ash exclaimed. "And… where can we find these Mega Stones and this Mega Ring?"

'_I would like to know too!_' Pikachu said. '_Even though I can't Mega Evolve, I wouldn't mind having a Mega Pokemon as a teammate!_'

"Now, now, Ash!" I tried to keep their enthusiasm down a little. "There is a reason if Relena and Richie tried to keep Mega Evolution a secret, isn't it?"

Richie rubbed the back of his head. "Well… actually, we would be glad if you had a Mega Ring and a Mega Stone yourselves, but those stones are incredibly rare, and it's not the sort of thing you can just find lying on the street. And the Mega Ring can't be found either. You need to pass a test in order to gain the right to have a Mega Ring, and only a select few people can have you go through that test." He explained. "Relena had to go through that test, and believe me when I say that it isn't easy."

"Well, of course they won't give out a powerful artifact, which allows Pokemon to become more about as strong as a Legendary, to the first one who comes." Relena explained. "They want to prove that the person who seeks such power has the moral fortitude to use it wisely."

"Yeah, I can see that." Ash answered, sounding a little disappointed, but then again, he was never the kind of person to let something like that get him down. "Oh well, if I get the chance, I'll speak to someone who knows about Mega Evolution, and I'll see if I can get a Mega Stone for Charizard, Heracross or Sceptile! For now, I'm okay with training my Pokemon the good old-fashioned way."

"I'll admit that I would like to have a Mega Stone for my Blaziken or my Venusaur, but it's not something that I will lose sleep about." I answered, petting my little Manaphy on the head. "I like my Pokemon the way they are, and I don't care how strong they are."

'_Thank you, Mama!_' my little Manaphy answered, cuddling up to me.

"You don't have to worry about my Mawile, she has one herself and her Mega Form is actually one of the few that makes her look stunning aside from Relena's Gardevoir…" came Jeanette's voice, she revealed she had a necklace that didn't look like any we have seen previously while at the same time she released her Mawile from her Dream Ball alongside her Whimsicott, much like with Michiru, Mawile was revealed to be holding a gemstone of her own.

"You have a Mawile?" I asked, scanning the female Steel-Type with Dexette while surprised that our new friend had a Hoenn Pokemon on her team.

Mawile, the Deceiver Pokemon. Attached to its head is a huge set of jaws formed by horns. It can chew through iron beams.

"Yep, had her since the Indigo League… Much like my Mega Charm" explained the elegant trainer from Crimson City, stroking the head of her Mawile while being careful that she isn't bitten by the jaw. "Still, though I lost to Ash… my mother passed this charm to me when I returned home as a means of good luck and the reason Mawile was in a Dream Ball should be obvious, she has a DW ability herself."

"How sweet of her to do so" smiled Relena, and then realized something as she turned her attention towards Ash. "So I heard your Bulbasaur just evolved into an Ivysaur am I right?" she asked him, which he nodded his head silently as I had actually informed my best friend about what had happened during the battle with Georgia and how Bulbasaur originally didn't want to evolve since Ash's initial journey in Kanto but now that he is an Ivysaur now, it was unavoidable. "Well I guess it couldn't be helped then, still I…."

She didn't finish what she was about to say when we heard something by the bushes which made us wonder what it was, before we could do anything Ash stepped in. "Let me handle this one… if anything, it could be Team Rocket trying to take our Pokemon away" he said, bringing his Pikachu with him to the shaking bushes and he was about ready to have Pikachu zap whatever it was with his Thundershock attack as he checked to find out what we were up against, much to their surprise, it wasn't anything dangerous at all but a familiar Normal-Type from the Kanto Region. "An Eevee?"

The Normal-Type Pokemon in question looked at Ash, as if my fiancée had some evil intentions for him and from the looks of it, he was a bit dirty from a previous encounter. Yet just as Ash was about to say something, Meloetta let herself out of her Cherish Ball in order to better explain to the young Eevee that neither her trainer nor Pikachu would do anything to harm him since they along with the rest of us had an encounter with Team Plasma. Don't be afraid, we're actually not here to hurt you… besides, I wouldn't be with Ash if he did abuse his Pokemon explained Meloetta with a sincere smile on her face and even sang a small song to help him relax a bit.

Fortunately, it was more than enough to calm Eevee a bit though at the same time he was amazed to ever see Meloetta in person let alone anyone who owned this Legendary Melody Pokemon at all since trainers with Legendary Pokémon were a rare site in any region. So your trainer isn't part of those evil people who tried to catch me? He asked, recalling a group of men in hooded red uniforms having gone after him and had overheard one of them commenting how making him evolve into a Flareon would be a perfect gift for their leader in their mission of revenge. Still, I don't want to be forced to serve that man….

"What did the people look like?" asked Ash, hoping it wasn't either Team Rocket or Team Plasma since he recalled the Rocket trio having tried to steal Mikey's Eevee and make it evolve into something via all three Evolution Stones at once especially as I as shocked when he told me about it not too long ago. "Did you at least see what their uniforms were like?"

All I know is that, they were talking about increasing the Land Mass and they were hooded red uniforms as they hunted me down and one of them had a Fire Stone in their possession… then there is this man who had a Shedinja and two Ninjasks with him answered Eevee, much to our dismay, we immediately recognized the uniforms and the desire for larger landmass to be that of Team Magma, which was Team Aqua's rival also from the Hoenn Regions which was a bad sign, even more so as it seemed that they gained some assistance from another old foe… Colonel Hansen.

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse… muttered Pikachu, more so as now we might have to take on Hansen again like we did in the Hoenn Region and Misty could never forgive him for having stolen her Togepi, the same cute Pokemon that Ash and I saw evolve into a Togetic before having to release her into the Togepi Kingdom after Hansen's defeat. We've dealt with those goons from Team Magma as well as Colonel Hansen before back in Hoenn; still if they're now allied then it could mean trouble.

Ash nodded his head. "Pikachu's right, still we won't let anything happen to you Eevee…" he told the Normal-Type with a reassuring smile which somewhat surprised the Pokemon in question but there was something else about my fiancée that made him more curious. "Besides, my friends and I will help in doing what we can to keep you safe from those guys as well."

In that case, thank you… Eevee smiled back, and then approached Ash much to his surprise as there was something else that he wanted to say as well. Do you think I could stay with you? That is, if you want me on you team? He asked out of curiosity, making us wonder about this ourselves at first. Also if possible, could you help me to become an Espeon? I'm sure you might not have a Psychic-Type and I'm a well known Pokemon for more alternate evolutions than any other Pokemon from this world.

Ash, Pikachu and Meloetta were all in deep thought… something I don't usually see at all because well this is Ash we are talking about, then again the thought of him having his own Eevee would be a touching site after all, I still remember the day my Eevee hatched from her egg and she was quite the playful one before her evolution into Glaceon so it wouldn't hurt for her to have another Eevee to interact with for once. "Alright, you have a deal… I won't let you down" he said at last, making his decision and throwing a Friend Ball at Eevee, who didn't waste any time in jumped at it and was sucked inside with a flash of red light, the green Pokéball shook for a while then the sound of Eevee having been successfully caught was heard.

"Congrats Ashy!" smiled Anna, giving her younger brother a high-five at seeing him having a new member of his team though none of us knew we were being watched…. More so by a familiar trio of thieves using their binoculars as we were preparing to continue our travel to the Palm Sun Oasis Resort without anymore trouble brewing hopefully, but it was what they heard about Team Magma and Hansen now being allies that made them scowl.

"Did you hear that James?" asked Jessie, hoping she heard right about this new situation that we discovered about. "Seems the Twerps now have Team Magma and Hansen after them, which means that even with your newly caught Yamask, it might not be enough."

"Maybe you're but still, best we keep an eye on them for now… especially as we already have our promotion from the boss before we even came to Unova so we better not screw this one up just because of one issue" added James, suddenly Wobbufett popped out of Jessie's Pokéball and Mime Jr happily popped out of James', having rejoined the Rocket trio not just for sentimental value but for something much more. At least we're actually starting to improve our image."

"I'll say, although having Wobbufett and Mime Jr with us again kinda contradicts matters don't you think?" came Meowth's voice, though both humans gave him a rather annoyed glance at the comment he made just now which caused him to sweat-drop "Not that I have a problem with that I mean…"

"That's better…" said James, luckily the trio was completely unaware of the Mega Evolution concept we had learned though we needed to be sure they or any other member of Team Rocket would never find out otherwise the consequences could effect the entire world of Pokemon, not just the region we are traveling in. "If only they knew about Meloetta's true purpose and why the Boss wanted her…"

Jessie and Meowth silently nodded, especially as there was a reason why Giovanni is after Meloetta, since her powers are needed to acquire three more powerful Legendary Pokemon in the Unova Region… ones that we never come across as of yet, while at the same time they needed to deal with the other problems such as Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Plasma, Zero and Colonel Hansen just to name a few. "Whatever the case, we'll just have to be more careful" the magenta-haired Team Rocket member replied, seeing this as an opportunity to eliminate the competition so there wouldn't be anyone in their way of their own plans.

As we continued our travels, our thoughts were on what Eevee said about Team Magma and Hansen so we will have to train harder than ever if we were to face them again though Ash would suddenly realize something… Erika was the same Gym Leader who kicked him out of her perfume shop just for making fun of her perfume and wasn't allowed into the Celadon Gym because of that, so he had to dress up as a girl in order to get his Gym Battle, Anna, Jeanette and I laughed when Misty told us about that as well as how he went by the name Ashley until Pikachu shocking him exposed his true identity. However, he managed to earn his Rainbow Badge by risking his life to save her Gloom, which had since then became a beautiful Belossom, from a fire that was started by the Team Rocket trio when they interrupted Ash's battle Gym Battle against Erika and activated a bomb upon stealing what they thought was her perfume but was really an essence of Gloom…

Speaking of Ash, he managed to catch a powerful Palpitoad that was in lake with a group of Tympoles while Cilan caught a Stunfisk from that exact same lake, while at the same time…. Thanks to Relena's training, Oshawott finally managed to overcome his fear of using Aqua Jet with his eyes open, something I was truly proud of, though we were disappointed when we learned he would be parting ways with us to train his Stunfisk, Pansage and Dwebble but promised to join up with us soon since he still intends to follow his dreams of becoming the world's greatest Pokemon Connoisseur and we wished him the best of luck as he headed off on his way.

While this was happening, Victini was sensing something from within Erika, as if there was something that made him begin smirking.

'My dear, do I sense that you carry offspring inside your body? Hmm... twins, perhaps?' he asked, making us shocked to hear that Erika might actually be pregnant though Ilex wasn't too pleased with my Victory Pokemon for saying this, even Meloetta was less than thrilled with her friends yet before any of us could continue our conversation or comment on Erika's pregnancy, we all came across a cute looking Pokemon that gave the most irresistible wink of any we have encountered.

"So adorable, what is it?" I asked, taking Dexette out to see what Pokemon it was as I so wanted to catch it myself.

Emolga, the Sky Squirrel Pokemon. Emolga lives in trees and uses its cape-like membrane to glide through the air.

From the way it looks, this Pokemon had infatuated a group of Patrats in order to get the Apples they had in their possession which to Victini, he assumed Emolga was a female since she had the Attract attack much like Ash's Snivy but I produced a Quick Ball because I wanted to get her without having to battle while mentally planning to use my own Snivy just in case the Quick Ball failed since she is the kind of Pokemon I wanted to catch all cute and adorable plus Snivy was resistant to any Electric-Type moves that she might have.

"Quick Ball go!" I yelled, throwing the Quick Ball at Emolga while she least expected it.

The female Sky Squirrel Pokémon was definitely surprised when she was caught off guard by being sucked in the blue and yellow Pokéball. Two shakes later, the Emolga popped out of the Quick Ball and slapped it back at me. I was quite surprised that Emolga sent the Quick Ball back at me. As the Quick Ball came back, a Pokéball that was all pink with some darker pink and lavender trim around the pink design appeared all of a sudden and landed in my hands. Jeanette looked at the all pink Pokéball I had in my hands and had a slight grin on her face.

"It looks like you've encountered a Pokémon from the Dream World and that Emolga is from the Dream World herself," observed Jeanette.

The Electric/Flying-type Pokémon looked back at me and said, '_She's right. My ability is Motor Drive. I don't take any damage from my fellow Electric-type Pokémon or their moves. Plus they only make me faster as they raise my own speed as well. Quite useful, don't you think?_'

I gave Emolga a slight nod of agreement at her last statement. Like my fiancé, I got excited and wanted to catch Emolga for myself. Before even considering just throwing the Dream Ball, I decided that it would be better to battle and weaken it instead of automatically using the Dream Ball.

"Manaphy, take the stage!" I exclaimed with eagerness to claim Emolga as part of my team.

"Not so fast," said an all too familiar voice.

We turned to see that it was in fact Iris and her Axew. Iris had a stern look on her face as saw me trying to catch the same Emolga that she was trying to catch. Seeing us, made her very upset... well, mostly me and Ash. As for the Emolga, she looked to see that Iris and I were both determined to catch her. She had a grin on her face as she then just found a place on the tree close to us and got comfortable.

'_I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to watch watch those humans bash each others heads in,_' Emolga said to herself. '_Because no matter who wins here, I'm still going to win regardless of what those two humans do._'

'How confident are you about that?' Victini asked Emolga.

'_Oh shut up... you've become nothing more than a human's pet,_' shot back Emolga. '_I intend to remain a free spirit and uncatchable. I will never nor allow myself to be some stupid pet of a human just to do tricks._'

"Axew, use Scratch on Manaphy," Iris said diverting attention away from Emolga and Victini's conversation.

"Dodge it Manaphy and use Water Pulse," I countered back as I wasn't going to let Iris beat me to catching Emolga.

'_Yes Mama,_' acknowledged Manaphy as he easily dodged Axew's Scratch attack and sent a pulsating orb of water at the little Dragon-Type Pokémon.

Axew was hit by the Water Pulse attack, but it didn't do much damage to him as Dragon-Type Pokémon were resistant to Water-type attacks. But that wasn't going to stop me from battling against Iris and her Axew. But Iris wasn't going to give up either as she was determined to catch Emolga for herself.

"Alright Axew, use Dragon Rage," Iris ordered her Tusk Pokémon.

Axew sighed as he couldn't believe that Iris was still angry about all the punches she got hit with and didn't seem like she was willing to forgive me, Bianca and Hilda for punching her a few times. Nonetheless, he did as instructed by Iris and used his Dragon-Type attack against Manaphy. The Dragon Rage attack connected with Manaphy and threw my little Seafaring Pokémon back a bit.

"Manaphy, my son," I called to Manaphy sweetly. "It's time for us to use that little secret weapon that you just learned."

'_Oh boy!_' Manaphy exclaimed happily. '_I would be glad to use it, Mama._'

My little Manaphy used the new attack he learned from the TM case that Relena allowed me to use in Castellia City. Manaphy emitted a powerful flash of light and seemed to have caused a lot of damage to Axew as he fainted from the Fairy-type attack. Iris was sure stunned to see her beloved Axew faint from the Fairy-type attack and picked up her Dragon-Type Pokémon and setting him to the side. She then shot a nasty glare at me as it seemed that she wasn't done with me just yet as she had another Pokéball ready.

"Alright Giratina, let's go," Iris said as she was still determined to catch Emolga.

The legendary Ghost/Dragon-type Pokémon came out and like Axew, he sighed as he thought of Iris's determination to catch Emolga to be frivolous and childish. From the look on Giratina's face, things hadn't been going well for him. I shook my head as I said to Iris, "Come on Iris. You should give up. I want Emolga and I seriously doubt that she wants to be with someone who's got a grudge just they got punched a few times."

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" lashed back Iris. "That Emolga will be mine. Alright Giratina, use Shadow Force!"

The Ghost/Dragon-type Pokémon did as he was told and vanished getting ready to strike at Manaphy. If there was one thing that I had learned from Ash and Relena, it was to be ready for the unexpected.

"Manaphy, get ready to use Dazzling Gleam again," I instructed Manaphy. "Wait until Giratina comes up and out of hiding.

'_Yes Mama,_' acknowledged Manaphy he waited patiently for the Renegade Pokémon to surface.

After waiting for a couple minutes, Giratina began to come out of his hiding place and as soon as Manaphy saw where Giratina was coming from, he dodged the attack as Giratina was coming out of his hiding place.

"Alright Manaphy, Dazzling Gleam," I countered back.

Manaphy happily used the Fairy-type attack as a counter attack against the Ghost/Dragon-type. Giratina certainly didn't like being struck by the Fairy-type attack and it did critical damage to him.

"Giratina!" exclaimed Iris.

"Manaphy, time for the spotlight to be turned off on Giratina," I said to my happy and cheerful Seafaring Pokémon. "Finish it up with Ice Beam!"

Giving me a slight nod, Manaphy used his Ice Beam and struck Giratina down in defeat. Iris wasn't too happy that she had been beaten twice. Gritting her teeth and glaring at me told that she wasn't willing to accept defeat. Recalling Giratina, she hefted her last Pokéball and it was the one Pokémon that was a real wild card for her and I wasn't sure that her Ground/Steel-Type was going to help her out.

"Alright Excadrill, you're my only hope," Iris said as she let out her Subterrene Pokémon.

Instead of taking a battle stance, the Ground/Steel-Type just folded up into it's drill form and began sleeping as if he didn't care about battling. The group and even Emolga had a dumbfounded look on their faces as they were wondering why Iris's Excadrill folded up and went to sleep. Not wanting to rude, Manaphy and I considered not attacking Excadrill and just ending the battle. But I knew that Iris wasn't going to admit defeat until all of her Pokémon were knocked out. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to force Iris's Pokémon to be knocked out... all of them.

"Manaphy, use Scald and end this pointless battle," I said as I let out a long sigh.

Manaphy also let out a long sigh before replying, '_Alright Mama._'

My little Water-type Pokémon then shot out scalding hot water at Excadrill causing the Subterrene Pokémon to wake up and let out a screeching cry of pain from the Water-type attack. It seemed that Scald did more damage than I thought it would do. When the dust settled, Excadrill had circles in his eyes showing that he been defeated. As Iris recalled her Excadrill, we could hear someone coming from behind laughing. The source of the laughing happened to come from Georgia, the Dragon Buster that Ash and I happened to beat earlier in the day.

"Wow... you're hopelessly pathetic," Georgia said in between laughs at Iris. "You have Dragon-Type Pokémon and you can't wield their power properly. You're not even worth my time. You're down right pathetic."

"Oh yeah, why don't we have a battle and I'll prove to you that I'm not pathetic?" Iris roared back at Georgia.

"Did you not hear me little girl?" Georgia asked with a grin on her face. "I said that you're not even worth my time. Neither are your Dragon-Type Pokémon. So go do us all a favor and run along home to your village... and tell them how much of a disgrace you are.

"I bet they'll expel you from the Village of Dragons and strip you of all your Dragon-Type Pokémon for being a lousy failure," finished Georgia as she walked past us and headed towards Nimbasa City.

Gritting her teeth, Iris just walked off in the same direction as Georgia and she was in fit of rage from Georgia's insult and me defeating all three of her Pokémon with just Manaphy. Once Iris was gone, Emolga looked to me and let out a sigh as she figured that she was going to have to face me one way or another.

'_Alright, let's just get this over with,_' Emolga said to me and then looked to Manaphy. '_I'm just doing this battle to humor your human master, silly pet._'

'_Mama never calls me a pet,_' lashed back Manaphy. '_Mama loves me and calls me her child._'

'_It's nothing more than a delusion, silly blue Pokémon,_' Emolga said to Manaphy, trying bait him into doing or saying something foolish. '_You're nothing more than a pet to do tricks do with. Nothing more and nothing less._'

I could see that Manaphy was upset with Emolga and what she was saying to him. Instead of lashing back with a comment, Manaphy shot an Ice Beam attack at the unsuspecting Sky Squirrel Pokémon and froze her in place with a stunned look. Trying to give me a thumb's up, Manaphy gestured to the frozen Emolga and was wanting me to take action.

"Dream Ball, go!" I exclaimed as I threw the pink Pokéball at the still frozen female Emolga.

The frozen Sky Squirrel Pokémon was sucked into the Dream Ball and shook for a while. It seemed that Emolga was trying to break out as she didn't want to become 'someone's pet to do tricks for.' Despite the fact that she was a Pokémon, it seemed as though the Dream Ball was like a Master Ball for Pokémon from the Dream World. Once Emolga stopped shaking in the Dream Ball, she gave up and the Dream Ball gave a confirmation click to indicate that she gave up and Emolga was now my Pokémon.

"Alright! I caught... an Emolga!" I exclaimed happily as Victini and Manaphy leapt happily in celebration just like Pikachu.

After all the celebration and joy had passed, we continued to look for the Pokémon stolen by Team Plasma. Just any mention of Unova's criminal syndicate was enough to suck the joy and happiness out of my silly little buddy. Even Katsumi tried to comfort him in anyway she could. But even her efforts proved fruitless as Victini was determined to see Team Plasma dismantled and dealt a fatal blow. As we came to the Desert Resort's entrance, we found a Swanna that was battered and bruised, but still was under the effects of the Dark Ball she was trapped in. Ilex then stepped up to the plate and purified the Water/Flying-type Pokémon from the effects of the Dark Ball. Ilex then smashed the Dark Ball into pieces as he had a scowl on his face at the sight of the destroyed evil Pokéball.

It was then that a friendly Fire-type Pokémon called Darumaka came by and saw the destroyed Dark Ball. Fearing it could still turn Pokémon evil, we politely asked the little Fire-type to burn the remains of it. After seeing that the Dark Ball was destroyed and Swanna went to her trainer and Samurott, we pressed on into the Desert Resort and found several Rocket grunts that were either unconscious or most likely dead. Just seeing all the carnage was enough to make most of us gag. When we had finally caught up to the Iron-Masked Marauder, he was already dead. I really don't want to describe how the Iron-Masked Marauder died... it was really a gruesome death and most of us wanted to puke at the sight of the rouge Team Rocket operative lying dead.

Again we noticed the same couple who had brushed past us and the man having a smirk on his face. The man had a dark tan complexion, black hair, what looked like a mechanical hand and a creepy looking black outfit. The blonde-haired woman he was with was someone that I wished that I could forget about. I remembered seeing her at one as I was returning to Ash. She was once called the Black Tulip and both she and I butted heads in a couple contests... both of which, I won my last two Johto ribbons. The blonde-haired woman shot me a dirty look as if to say that she hadn't forgotten about her two loses.

"If you're looking for Giovanni, he's not here," the blonde-haired woman said to us. "As soon as things started looking bad for Team Rocket, he hightailed it out of here."

'Then where are those hypocrites, Team Plasma?' Victini demanded of the blonde-haired woman named Domino.

"They left after failing to find a couple of items that were of great importance to them," answered Domino's boyfriend... or fiancé. "Their leader mentioned something about having to kill the Hero of Truth and Hero of Ideals to take control of Reshiram and Zekrom."

"This is my fiancé, Taichi," Domino said to us. "We used to be with Team Rocket, but not anymore."

Domino's fiancé then eyed my Manaphy and Victini and then said to me, "You'd be better off keeping them in their Pokéballs. If Giovanni sees them, there's no stopping him in pursuing your rare Pokémon."

'_Mama and I have encountered Team Rocket many times and we've always beaten them,_' Manaphy informed Taichi. '_We can take care of ourselves._'

'Not to mention it seems that two Rocket operatives and a talking Scratch Cat Pokémon from Brother Pikachu's home region have constantly tried to target and capture Brother Pikachu,' Victini added to Manaphy's statement.

When Victini mentioned Jessie, James and Meowth, both Domino and this guy, Taichi, seemed to roll their eyes and snort in disgust. I guess they must not liked the trio considering all the failures they had done in the past. The scowl on Taichi's face said enough to me that he wondered why Jessie, James and Meowth hadn't been fired or permanently dealt with.

"I wouldn't worry too much about those losers," Domino said to us as she rolled her eyes. "The only thing about them that makes them dangerous is that they're gluttons for punishment and have a tenancy to keep up their relentless pursuit no matter what the cost."

After getting some helpful advice from the two former Rocket operatives, we found some Team Plasma grunts and a few minor lieutenants who had stolen Pokémon captured in Dark Balls. Once the remaining Plasma grunts and lieutenants were defeated, we decided to turn back and head towards the Palm Sun Oasis for me and Hilda's next Pokémon contest. As we reached our destination, I looked at the Dream Ball that I had with Emolga captured inside and then scanned her to see what attacks she knew.

"Let's see now," I began as I looked to see Emolga's attacks. "So she knows Hidden Power, Nuzzle, Aerial Ace, Discharge, Attract and Electro Ball. Hmm... not bad selection of attacks."

"We should keep going everyone," Ilex informed us. "Palm Sun Oasis is just up ahead."

With a confident smile on my face, I knew for certain that the next contest was going to be quite fun and I certainly had the Pokémon in mind to use for the Pal Sun Oasis contest. Hilda had also chosen the Pokémon she was going to use for the contest as well. Though her choice was most likely going to bring a lot of attention to her and probably the leaders of both Team Rocket and Plasma after us. Nonetheless, we headed towards Palm Sun Oasis and were ready for the next contest.

**Author's note:...**

**Victini: 'And cut! Sparky is finally done with this chapter. Please leave comments on the chapter... and that you ladies love a certain cute, furry and lovable chick magnet. Me! ^_^**

**Katsumi: (Pulling Victini by his left ear) '****Let's go pretty boy! Sparky doesn't need comments left about you!****'**

**Victini: 'Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Why must my mate treat me like this?!'**

**Um... -_-, Please leave me your comments and favorite this fic if you enjoy it. All the comments you leave certainly help me to improve the story. I'll be taking a 60 day hiatus from this story to work on other projects. Until then my friends...**

**JA NE! ^_^**


	21. Chapter 19

**Anna: Sparky does not own the Pokémon franchise or the characters. Game Freak, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company own it. Nor is Sparky trying to make any money off this story. This is written for entertainment purposes only.**

**Victini: 'Wait! I was supposed to do the disclaimer this time!**

**Anna: Sorry, but you were too busy getting drug away from that girl at the front desk by your mate. So I decided to do the disclaimer instead.**

**Victini: :'(**

**Anna: Take it away Sparky!**

19: Revenge is Best Thwarted in the Scorching Sun

After we had a brief, yet fruitless encounter with Team Plasma we made our way to the Palm Sun Oasis for the next Pokémon Contest. Both Hilda and I were anxious to get our next ribbon and both of us were going to have to pull out all the stops to win. As we entered the confines of the desert resort, I let out a sigh because I knew that my silly little buddy was going to busy trying to charm all of the pretty girls that were here just to give him affection. It also seemed that Katsumi asked Relena to send her back to the Atlantica Islands where Relena and Richie were from and resided. [Sigh] Though, I do wish she would've told Victini to keep his flirting down to a minimum instead of giving him a week-long "hall pass" just so he could flirt around.

'An oasis is just the perfect place place to find gorgeous girls and young women who just waiting to share attention and affection,' Victini happily said with a smile.

'_Come on Brother Victini, can't you stop flirting with the pretty girls for a while?_' Manaphy asked, weary of Victini's constant flirting.

'_I'm with Brother Manaphy,_' agreed Pikachu as he too was weary of Victini's flirting. '_I think you should stop flirting with the pretty girls._'

'Why not come join me then, my brothers?' Victini asked happily. 'I think the three of us are the best chick magnets any pretty girl would give affection to.'

Before either Pikachu or Manaphy could complain again, they suddenly began to picture themselves surrounded by pretty girls. I did notice a grin on Pikachu's face as I guessed he pictured Brock in the background sobbing and feeling jealous that he was getting girls and Brock wasn't. As for Manaphy, my sweet little Manaphy... he could see himself using the pools and water park as his way of getting affection from girls. I gave Manaphy and Victini a slight nod as I knew either way, they were still going to go and see if they could charm the girls into giving them affection. Ash didn't realize that Pikachu wasn't on his shoulder until I mentioned it to him and showed him that Pikachu, Manaphy and Victini went off towards the pools. As for the rest of us, we checked into the resort and found out that the contest organizers had delayed the start of the contest for a few days in part to the recent attacks done by Team Plasma. Both Ash and I gave each other a slight grin as we both had the same thought and were eager to have time alone with each other while our three main Pokémon were out enjoying themselves. As for the other couples that were traveling with us, they had already checked in and went to their rooms. Ash and I... we wanted to have our special... bonding time and nothing was going to stop us. It seemed that Relena and Richie were thinking the same thing, even though Relena's surrogate father was there with them. As Hilda and Hilbert... um... I'll just leave what they were doing to your imagination.

Victini's POV

(Author's note: Hope you guys like Victini telling this part)

Being at the resort was everything that I could've wanted. Heh heh... to this day, I still hold that Lord Arceus could not have given my brothers and I the best luck when we stepped into the aquatic area of the resort. Brother Manaphy went to his element right away, starting at the pools. He used his upbeat and child-like personality to get the attention of pretty girls. Just seeing the ladies flock to Manaphy and showering him with affection brought a big grin to my face.

'_I'm certainly glad that Brock isn't here,_' Brother Pikachu had said to me we both watched Manaphy enjoying the attention and affection. '_For some strange reason, I wanted to try to and see if I could get attention and affection from pretty human girls. But I don't think Ash would've liked seeing Brock's influence rub off on me._'

'Fear not my Brother,' I said to Brother Pikachu happily. 'This Brock human isn't here and you've got nothing to hold you back from getting the affection and attention you so deserve.'

Brother Pikachu looked to me with glance and thought about this newly found freedom. With a smirk on his face and high self-esteem, Brother Pikachu went off to go find all the pretty girls he could find to charm.

As for myself, I was intent on letting Brother Manaphy have first crack at the pools and water park while I myself was going to work my way towards the pool and start with girls that were sunbathing and maybe have a bored look on their faces. As always, I made sure to keep an eye out and make sure that female human I hit on didn't have a wedding ring on their person or have their husband nearby. Like I told my human, May, I do have some moral standards and know not to hit married female humans.

An hour into exploring around I encountered a male human around May's age and saw that he too was flirting with girls and had what looked to be a Grass-Type Pokémon with him. It had roses for hands and had a masquerade attire with mask and a cape. I had never seen such a Grass-Type Pokémon like that in person. But it didn't mean that I hadn't seen it in a book before. But it seemed as though the human male was giving the pretty girl a rose as a token of his attraction to her.

"Think of me as you hold that rose in your hands," the male human said to the pretty girl.

Leaving the pretty girl speechless and profusely blushing, he then turned and noticed me. His Grass-Type Pokémon also noticed me as well and approached me as he noticed that I had a disappointed look on my face.

"Hey there small fry," the male human said to me. "Hope I didn't ruin anything for you."

'Actually, I was hoping to see if I could get that girl you were with to shower me with affection,' I replied to the male human. 'But it seems that you beat me to the punch.'

Both the male human and his male Grass-Type Pokémon were surprised to hear me speaking to them telepathically. After getting over his shock, the male human introduced himself as Drew Anderson from LaRousse City in May's home region of Hoenn. His Grass-Type Pokémon introduced itself as Roserade, a Grass/Poison-Type Pokémon from the Sinnoh region. I'm sorry, what I meant was that he was caught in Hoenn and then evolved with a Shiny Stone. I introduced myself to them and they surprised to hear that I belonged to May.

"How did you become May's Pokémon?" Drew asked me. "May never told me what was going to do after the Grand Festival in Johto."

'Well, she and Ash Ketchum are engaged to be married,' I explained to Drew as he and his Roserade were walking with me as I was floating towards more girls who were just waiting for the right cute and furry little chick magnet to come along. 'While I am looking for girls who would be willing to give some attention and affection.'

'_To who? You?_' 'Roserade asked me with a slight taunting grin on his face. '_I seriously doubt that you could get a human female to shower you with attention and affection._'

"N-Now Roserade, let's not tease May's Pokémon," Drew said to his Grass/Poison-Type Pokémon getting him to calm down. "You and I both know that it's possible he also has her temper. And I don't think we should be trying to provoke him."

'_But Drew, he claims that he can get any pretty girl to give him attention and affection,_' protested his Roserade. '_I think he should prove it. Prove it or just let those with class handle the ladies._'

Drew then looked to me with a slight smile on his face and then noticed a very beautiful human female who was sunbathing and had a Dragon/Ground-Type Pokémon laying on the left side of the beach chair she was reclining on. The female human also was wearing a two piece black bikini swimsuit that was very attractive and might've made my head spin a little bit. It was then that Roserade looked to me and issued a challenge.

'_Prove that you charm that female human into giving you affection and attention and we'll leave you alone,_' 'Roserade said to me.' '_Otherwise, you'll have to back off and leave the charming to the experts._'

I thought for a moment. I didn't have to prove anything to them, I knew I was a perfect furry chick magnet. But I'm never one to back down from a challenge either.

'Alright. I will. Prepare to see how it's done by a pro.' I smiled. I floated over to the girl and her Dragon Pokémon, glancing back once or twice to make sure my challengers were watching. 'Excuse me.' I said to the female. She turned her head to me and looked surprised that I was speaking to her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is that your Pokémon?' I asked, gesturing to the Dragon/Ground Pokémon at her side.

"He is," she told me. I smiled and then made my move.

'I was wondering if you fell from heaven. Because if you did, you've certain come to brighten and warm this world with your long and soft strands of golden hair that was ever so kissed by the sun,' I fed her my line. I saw her smile at me and was also blushing as I kissed her left hand gently and tenderly.

"Well aren't you the nicest little Fire-type!" she exclaimed, taking me into her arms and petting me on the head. I glanced back to see Drew and Roserade in shock at how perfectly I roped this girl into giving me affection. Then, things got better. "Oh, I just have to bring you to show my friends! They'll just eat you up!" she smiled, getting up and running off toward a crowd of girls. I smiled as I again looked back and saw Drew and Roserade's mouths now agape.

'A deal's a deal guys. See ya!' I called back to them before joining the beautiful and gorgeous girl.

May's POV

Even though I was worried about our Pokémon going off to get attention from girls, I had to admit, I loved having my time alone with Ash. It was wonderful to just be alone with him after so long. Our Pokémon eventually came back to us and looked like they had the time of their lives. I can only imagine why. Either way, they came back and we all hit the hay. When I woke up next, I realized the contest was the next day. I had to get ready. I waited for my son and my silly little buddy to wake up, then we all headed out to find Hilda, in the hopes that she'd train with us. On the way, I talked with Victini about yesterday.

"You didn't bother anyone too much did you?" I asked, eying him.

'Me? Bother anyone?' he asked innocently. I gave him the 'I know you' look. 'Ok. Ok. I may have done that before, but not yesterday. Brother Manaphy was there. He can tell you.' He explained. I looked at Manaphy on my other shoulder and he nodded.

'_It's true mama. Brother Victini was very good.'_ He agreed.

"Alright. So did you meet anyone interesting?" I asked both of them.

'Actually, I met someone with green hair and a Roserade. He seemed to know you very well. His name was Drew Anderson.' Victini recalled. I stopped right where I was. The name of my biggest rival was like the crack of a whip to me. What was Drew doing in Unova? My Pokémon must've been worried about me, because they were trying to snap me out of my thoughts. 'May? Hey, May!' Victini shook my shoulder.

'_Mama? Are you ok?_' Manaphy asked. I finally came back to reality.

"Sorry guys. I didn't mean to zone out like that." I apologized to my concerned Pokémon. Then I turned to Victini and asked, "Did Drew happen to mention why he was here?"

'No. We never touched base on that.' Victini informed me. 'But his Roserade didn't think I could charm pretty girls into giving me affection. Boy, did I prove him wrong with a very gorgeous and beautiful girl named Cynthia Shirona.'

I sighed at first, but when Victini mentioned that the Sinnoh champion was here, I was a bit alarmed. Finally, we managed to find Hilda and we began to train. The next day, I found myself beside Hilda as we waited for our Contest to begin. I had decided not to tell Ash right away about Drew because I didn't have enough information to figure out what he was doing here, so I thought maybe he wouldn't bother us. Now he was hanging out in the stands with Hilbert, and our other friends too. Then, the MC came onto the field, and began to introduce the judges. I almost fell off my seat when they got to the end and revealed Drew as the special guest judge along with Erika as she was the other special guest judge. I couldn't believe this. I could only imagine how awkward this was going to be for me. And maybe for Drew as well. Then, a thought crossed my mind. Did Victini tell him about Ash and me? I remembered he always had a thing for me, but it never crossed my mind what would happen if he found out. I swallowed hard and Hilda took notice.

"Everything alright?" she asked me.

"The gust judge today…he liked me when I left for Ash. And I don't know how he'll take the news about Ash and me, or even if he knows yet." I explained.

"Even if he does still have a thing for you, Ash isn't the kind of guy to let you face him alone. Everything will be fine." She assured me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I smiled at her.

'Thanks Hilda.'

I had thought about wearing an outfit for this contest, but decided not to do so as I needed to save the modeling till Nimbasa City, where our next fashion show was going to be. Grabbing Emolga's Dream Ball, I let her out so I could speak with her.

'_I maybe your Pokémon,_' began Emolga, '_but I'm not going to be doing tricks for you. I'm not your..._'

Before Emolga could finish her sentence, she could hear applause coming from the crowd and then looked up at the television screen to see other Pokémon using their attacks in a variety of combinations. It was then that Emolga heard more applause and noticed that the audience was applauding the trainer **and** their Pokémon. Seeing this puzzled Emolga as she couldn't understand why the audience was applauding the Pokémon.

'This is a Pokémon contest, Sister Emolga,' Victini explained to Emolga.

'_A... Pokémon... contest?_' asked a puzzled Sky Squirrel Pokémon.

'Yes,' answered Victini cheerfully. 'We Pokémon use our attacks to get the humans excited and to try and nurture a love for training Pokémon.'

Emolga still seemed hesitant about the Pokémon contests until Victini finished, 'Yes, we do tricks for our trainers. But in the long run, we do it so other humans can enjoy what we do and it really helps to see excitement and joy on a human's face, Sister Emolga.'

'_Wha? Why do keep calling me 'Sister Emolga'?_' asked Emolga as she was confused as to why Victini was referring to her as a sibling.

'What do you mean by that?' Victini answered with his own question before looking cheerfully. 'I call all of the Pokémon who join our party my brother or sister.'

'_Except for Lady Relena's Pokémon and the Pokémon that belong to the Emerald Prince,_' chimed in Manaphy.

'_Emerald Prince?_' Emolga asked Manaphy. '_Who is this Emerald Prince? And why is he called the Emerald Prince?_'

'I think the Emerald Prince might be Princess... I-I mean Lady Relena's fiancé, Richie Henderson,' answered Victini. 'Apparently, people started calling him the Emerald Prince after he and Princess... I-I mean Lady Relena defeated his mother for their third gym badge in their home region of the Atlantica Islands.'

'_You should know by now that Lady Relena hates being called by any reference to royalty, Brother Victini,_' Manaphy said to Victini.

"I must say that Hilda Touko has quite the Pokémon for herself," Drew said as he evaluated the performance of Hilda's shiny Sylveon. "And I'm willing to bet, that she got some instruction from the Princess of Hoenn and she certainly has listened to her."

"Her Sylveon looked graceful yet showed her tough side by showcasing her ability to repel all of those tennis balls thrown at her," finished Erika as she had a joyous smile on her face. "I can most certainly see the newly crowned Princess of Unova going far."

"And there you have it, folks," announced the contest MC. "Much praise given to Hilda Touko, of Nuvema Town."

'Well Sister Emolga, what do you think now?' Victini asked the Electric/Flying-type Pokémon. 'Think you can do this? Or are you going let the big boys handle this?'

'_Big boys? Big boys?!_' lashed back Emolga as she was insulted by Victini's taunt and had a vein popping on her forehead. '_I'll show you 'big boys' how the ladies get the audience charged up and begging for more from yours truly._

Before I could even try to talk to Emolga, she landed on my shoulder and said, '_Come on May. You and I will show the 'big boys' how we ladies get the audience begging for more from us. Not to mention, Brother Victini is going to eat his words when I prove him wrong._'

"Um... okay," I replied nervously.

I then noticed a grin on Victini's face as he gave a wink and a thumb's up indicating his solution had worked. I had no idea what kinda of solution Victini had in mind, but as long as it worked, I was fine with it. Emolga and I had entered the arena where the audience was already charged and awaiting for us to do our performance. When Emolga saw the audience cheering and applauding, it didn't take long for all of that to sink in as it seemed to be quite enjoyable to her.

'_Maybe I can get used to this,_' Emolga said to me.

"Well, we've got to put on a show for them to enjoy too," I informed Emolga.

'_Then let's hop to it and make Brother Victini eat his words,_' the Dream World Sky Squirrel Pokémon said to me eagerly.

With a big grin on my face, I too was eager to make my silly little buddy eat his words even if he did it to provoke Emolga into shaking her doubts about being my 'pet to do tricks.' I looked to Emolga and she gave me a slight nod of acknowledgment.

"Emolga! Take the stage!" I exclaimed as she leapt off my shoulder confidently.

'_Time for the ladies to take charge!_' Emolga exclaimed happily.

"Emolga use your Attract upwards and then glide through them with Aerial Ace," I ordered Emolga.

'_Ah... I consider Attract to be my signature move,_' replied Emolga as she did as I asked her.

"Now let's see if we can't keep those hearts in the air a little longer," I told Emolga. "Use Shock Wave to keep them afloat and then go in with Nuzzle."

'_Gladly May,_' acknowledged Emolga as she executed the combination with perfect timing.

The hearts then started glowing bright colors as it was to getting to where I wanted us to finish. With a very confident grin on my face and very pumped audience who were going crazy, I knew how I was going to finish strong. I was certainly thankful that Emolga knew Electro Ball as it was part of my plan.

"Alright Emolga, let's blow the audience away and finish strong with Electro Ball!" I exclaimed joyfully to Emolga.

Emolga also had a grin on her face as well. It seems that she was ready to finish strong as well. The Dream World Sky Squirrel Pokémon then began charging up her Electro Ball attack, taking only a couple seconds and let her Electro Ball fly with some spin on the attack as the Electric-type attack seemed to have generated a small magnetic field gathering the brightly hearts into the spinning Electro Ball. Once the hearts had collected, they all exploded into a rainbow of much smaller hearts as Emolga landed on my head giving off a flirty wink. The audience certainly loved the performance, as did the judges.

"Truly remarkable," replied the Unova Pokémon Fan Club president. "The Princess of Hoenn and Emolga certainly know how to get an audience begging for more."

Emolga was then startled when she heard the Unova Pokémon Fan Club president calling me the Princess of Hoenn as many people around the Unova region were calling me. For her, Emolga had never of my nickname. I gave my Sky Squirrel Pokémon a slight glance to see her confused and startled expression on her face. Then Emolga had the look on her face that asked me, 'Is there something you're not telling me?' With a slight chuckle, I gestured Emolga to look to the other judges.

"Emolga certainly gave an electrifying performance for this contest," added Mr. Contesto. "I wanna see more of Emolga."

"Emolga is quite the healthy Pokémon," added Nurse Joy. "I can tell that May takes very good care of her Pokémon and Emolga is bursting with a radiant coat.

"I gotta say that May definitely earned the right to be called the Princess of Hoenn," remarked Drew as I became a little nervous and hoped that he wouldn't try to flirt with me. "May and that Emolga certainly charged this crowd up."

"May has done a very good job with Emolga," Erika said as she was closing the round with her comments. "Taking a new Pokémon under her wing and getting it ready for a contest in a such short time. I'm very impressed."

"And there you have it folks," the MC said as he was bursting with enthusiasm. "Now the appeal rounds are over after learning that the co-champion of the Atlantica Islands has dropped out of this competition."

I was shocked to hear that Relena had dropped out of the competition for this contest. I had thought that maybe she was looking forward to competing in this contest. But I guess that she was more focused on training her Pokémon or probably trying to track down where Team Plasma was going to strike next.

An hour later, Drew came back to the waiting area and of course was looking for me. When I saw Drew approaching me, I let out a deep sigh as I was going to have to tell him that Ash had already spoken for me and was prepared to show him the engagement ring on my necklace. As he came close, both Manaphy and Victini came to me as well. Drew was certainly surprised to see Victini and Manaphy with me. Drew had his Roserade with him as I knew that he was going to try and use one his usual pickup lines that involved handing me or any pretty girl a rose. I let out a frustrated sigh as I knew what to expect and wasn't exactly easy to keep Drew from hitting on me while I was in Johto. Luckily, Manaphy was there to help keep me straight and remind me that I was still dating his papa.

"Hey May, you look..." Drew began before noticing Manaphy glaring at him.

'Oh look, it's the little babies who thought they were grown men,' Victini said mischievously as he noticed that Drew's Roserade looked as if he was still sore at Victini. 'I hope you little boys enjoyed the demonstration of how a professional uses his charm on girls.'

Drew and Roserade said nothing as Victini continued, 'By the way you should check Cynthia Shirona's Twitter page and see the selfie she took with me... in her right arm... blushing profusely. It's even on my Twitter page too.'

'_Wait... you have a Twitter page?_' asked a dumbfounded Roserade.

'Yes... yes I do have a Twitter page,' Victini answered the Bouquet Pokémon. 'As does Brother Pikachu, Brother Manaphy, Sister Latias and Sister Meloetta.'

'_Drew, you gotta help get my own Twitter page too!_' exclaimed Roserade.

"Maybe later," Drew said to his Roserade before turning his attention to me and then noticing my engagement ring on my necklace. "Huh... Guess the small fry wasn't kidding about you being engaged. You're to engaged to that dweeb, Ash, right?"

Behind Drew came two of Ash's own Pokémon. The two of which I knew very well and gave a slight smirk as I knew what was going to happen to Drew for calling my fiancé a dweeb. Both Latias and Ayame were standing right behind Drew and his Roserade when they began to let off a sinister dark aura which caused Drew and Roserade to have a sudden chill run down their spines in terror.

It was an hour later that the results were announced and of course Drew had reappeared with bandages on his face and his left calf wrapped up in bandages too. I guessed that Latias and Ayame roughed him up a bit, but both female Pokémon denied ever laying a hand on him and insisted that a couple angry guys had beaten the tar out of Drew before they even got a chance to do harm to him. I had cringed at the thought of them hurting Drew. On one side he did deserve to get hurt for insulting my fiancé, but on the other side I was glad that Latias and Ayame didn't have a chance to hurt Drew.

The results had shown that Hilda, Jeanette and I had advanced to the next round of contest battles. But before they could start, Drew had to be an idiot and stood up as he challenged my fiancé to a battle. It seemed that he wanted to take me for himself. I silently wished that Ash wouldn't accept his challenge, but I should've known better. Ash accepted his challenge and three of his Pokémon were ready to do battle with Drew's Pokémon. [Sigh] I should've known that the three Pokémon that were ready to battle were the three female Pokémon on his current team, Latias, Ayame and Meloetta.

"I hope you're not making wedding plans so soon, Ash," taunted Drew. "Because you're not even gonna get the chance to say 'I do' with May."

'_We'll see about that, you arrogant little punk,_' lashed back Latias.

'_Please, calm down ladies,_' urged Meloetta. '_This young human boy certainly doesn't have the right to break up Ash's impending marriage to the Princess of Hoenn._'

'_Sister Meloetta is right, Sister Latias,_' agreed Ayame. '_Let us make this boy eat his words and go home crying to his mommy._'

'_Sounds like a plan to me, Sister Ayame,_' Latias said happily with a sickly sweet tone.

All Meloetta could do was sigh as she was trying to keep both Latias and Ayame calm.

Drew and Ash stood at opposite sides of the battlefield they had chosen for their upcoming Pokemon Battle while Jeanette, Hilda, Anna and I watched with frowns on our faces, especially as from the looks of it… my rival from my home region had something else he wanted to say to before they began their match. "This will be a full six on six match, no time limit at all so you better have picked your Pokemon wisely because I'm not holding anything back… Go Roserade!" he sent out his first Pokemon which was none other than his Roserade and I saw Ash preparing to send out one of his three female Pokemon to deal with the Grass/Poison-Type when suddenly Oshawott came out instead much to his dismay.

"Oshawott, not now!" exclaimed Ash, he had no intention of sending his Oshawott into battle but it was too late so he needed to make do, fortunately his Water-Type had the Ice Beam attack that Relena taught to him earlier. "In any case, we better win his round and teach Drew a lesson."

"Oh really? You should be well aware that Water-Type Pokemon are weak against Grass-Types and now it's going to cost you" Drew mocked Ash, then turned his attention towards Roserade. "Use Magical Leaf attack now!"

"Counter with Ice Beam!" Ash countered, having Oshawott use his Ice Beam attack to freeze the leafs fired at him from Roserade and then shattered them using his scallop with style. "Now use your Aqua Jet attack!" The Sea Otter Pokemon used the Water-Type attack that he had mastered since the events with Palpitoad and Stunfisk prior and with swift speed, hit his opponent despite it not being very effect since it was a Grass/Poison-Type.

"Is that the best you can do? Roserade, Petal Dance!" ordered Drew, which his Pokemon complied by landing a direct hit on Oshawott and made the green-haired trainer grin as it sent the Water-Type to the ground which made me worried right now, luckily despite the super effective hit, he could still fight but one more hit like that and it's over. "So, it still wants to fight huh? In that case, finish things up with Mega Drain!"

"Quick use Ice Beam now!" Ash told his Oshawott, which with one powerful beam of ice… he managed to score a direct hit and surprisingly enough… it froze Roserade right where it stood and this could give my fiancée the chance to win round 1 of this six on six match. "Alright, use your Razor Shell with everything you've go!"

'_Here I come!_' yelled Oshawott, drawing out his scallop and slashed at Roserade with his Razor Shell, yet we never noticed Drew was grinning as something suddenly thawed out the Sinnoh Pokemon as soon as it was frozen. '_What the?!_'

"Petal Dance again!" Drew told Roserade after the Aspear Berry it held freed it from the ice it was encased in, sending petals right at Oshawott once more, this time he was able to slice through and deflect the petals in order to not fall for the same trick twice but that is what Drew wanted him and Ash to believe. "Prepare your Solarbeam!"

Much to my dismay, Drew was having Roserade use the attack that beat me the first time and since Oshawott is a Water-Type, it's going to knock him out for sure though I saw the expression my fiancé had on his face as if he was expecting Roserade prepare its strongest attack. "Alright Oshawott, wait for my signal…" he said, he didn't want to charge in at Roserade while the Solarbeam was being made he already made similar mistakes at Johto and the Battle Frontier so he won't want to repeat that with my rival from Hoenn. Then as Roserade launched the Solarbeam at Oshawott, they both knew that it was now or never…. "Dodge and use Ice Beam!" he said, his Oshawott dodging the Solarbeam and with one blast of his Ice Beam…. He struck Roserade once more, this time managing to knock it out and winning Ash the first round.

"Oh hell!" exclaimed Drew, seeing that his Pokemon had fainted against one that it had a Type-Advantage over while the expression on Ash's face showed he was happy for Oshawott and how proud he was yet as the little Sea Otter was about to smile back at his trainer, something happened as he was enveloped in a flash of white light, which we all knew what it meant…. He was evolving, something that reminded Hilda of when hers had evolved after she won her first Gym Battle against Cilan and his brothers prior to having joined with us as the light faded, and we saw that Oshawott wasn't an Oshawott anymore but was now a Dewott.

I was rather surprised by this and at the same time, this is the first time I've ever since a Water-Type Ash owned to actually evolve since the only other Water-Type Pokemon he had that evolved after defeating an opponent's Pokemon was his Krabby which was already a Kingler when I saw it at Professor Oak's lab when I was in Kanto and I learned it evolved when my fiancé went up against the Amazing Mandi at the first round of the Indigo League preliminaries. Then again, Drew wasn't taking this too well or the fact that Oshawott had become Dewott as he withdrew his fallen Roserade. "You were just lucky, however get ready for Round 2!" he threw another Pokemon and being released into battle was his Absol.

"Okay Dewott come back!" he told his newly evolved Dewott, who simply complied with his trainer, returning to his side so he can get some rest as Discipline Pokemon's personality as Oshawott was still shown despite his evolution and Ash knew who he will choose next. "Meloetta, it's your turn!"

'_I'm on it_' Meloetta gracefully danced onto the battlefield and Absol gave a glare towards her, since it thought this would be an easy victory to avenge Roserade's defeat at the hands of Dewottt earlier since Dark-Type Pokemon not only have an Advantage over Psychic-Types but are also immune to Psychic-Type attacks_. _'_I won't let you down._'

"I know you won't" Ash smiled at the Melody Pokemon, he had faith in all his Pokemon and this includes Meloetta since she was part of his team while Absol is a Dark-Type, she had two attacks that could take it down as one of them was an attack that both Relena's shiny Gardevoir Michiru and my Manaphy used previously but wanted to save them for the right moment. "Let's begin this round with Teeter Dance!"

Drew and Absol watched as Meloetta began a graceful dance, wondering what they were up to and figured it would be best not to take any chances against her. "Absol use your Shadow Ball attack" he ordered his Disaster Pokémon, not knowing it would be a huge mistake as the Shadow Ball was fired at Meloetta but she didn't take any damage due to her immunity to Ghost-Type attacks as she was part Normal-Type. "What the?!"

"Have you completely forgotten that Normal-Types are immune to Ghost-Type moves like Shadow Ball?" asked Ash, wondering how Drew could have forgotten that notion unless he thought she was a pure Psychic-Type which made the green-haired trainer really angry, even I mentally face-palmed at the mistake he made against my fiancé. "Use Sing attack now!"

Meloetta was all too eager and used Sing. Unfortunately, the Normal-Type move missed and Drew was eager to take advantage of the missed Sing attack. If Ghost-Type attacks weren't going to work on Meloetta, then he was going to use Dark-Type attacks instead.

"Alright Absol, if Ghost-Type attacks won't work on that Psychic Pokémon, then we'll use our type advantage against them," Drew said as was starting to get annoyed.

'_Ash, I have a move that allows me to change form and go from a Psychic-type Pokémon to a Fighting-Type Pokémon, if you'll allow me to use it,_' Meloetta said to Ash.

Ash gave the Melody Pokémon a slight nod as he agreed to let Meloetta use her special attack. Meloetta then began to sing an ancient song that seemed to sooth Absol's aggression as well as everyone in the audience and the judges as well. As soon as Meloetta finished her song, she had indeed changed form and possibly changed Pokémon type as well. Drew gritted his teeth as he was certainly intimidated but wasn't going to let Meloetta's sudden form change get him.

"Alright Absol, use Night Slash!" exclaimed Drew. "We've still got the type advantage."

'_How sure are you that you have the type advantage over me?_' a transformed Meloetta asked Drew.

Ash was about to order Meloetta to dodge the attack when the Melody Pokémon gave her trainer a confident smile on her face. Guess she learned from that from my fiancé. Ash returned Meloetta's confident smile with a slight nod. Meloetta then let the Night Slash attack hit her and much to our surprise, Absol's Night Slash attack didn't do much damage to Meloetta.

'_Wha? What's going on here? My Night Slash attack should've done more damage to you!_' exclaimed a shocked Absol. '_I-I thought you were a Psychic-type Pokémon!_'

'_You're half right Hoenn Dark-Type Disaster Pokémon,_' replied Meloetta. '_When I'm in my Aria Form, I'm a Normal/Psychic-Type Pokémon. But since I'm in my Pirouette Form, I have become a Normal/Fighting-Type Pokémon. Your Dark-Type attacks have little effect on me._

Meloetta then turned to Ash and said, '_Allow me finish off this Dark-Type Pokémon. Like Brother Manaphy and Brother Victini, I learned that new Fairy-type attack and I would like to use it._'

"Alright Meloetta, use Dazzling Gleam!" Ash exclaimed with enthusiasm.

'_And now for the finishing touch,_' Meloetta said as she used Dazzling Gleam on Absol.

'_Ahhh! Too... powerful..._' said Absol as he fell in defeat.

'_Nicely done Sister Meloetta!_' cheered Ayame.

Drew had two of his Pokémon down and he wasn't happy about losing two of his best Pokémon, one by sheer luck and another by an unexpected Mankey wrench thrown at him. I could see that Drew was determined to break up our engagement, but he was sorely mistaken. When comes to battles of strength, Ash was going to win and I already knew that. Drew then grabbed his next Pokéball as he wasn't going to let his first two defeats get to him.

"Let's go Roselia!" exclaimed Drew as he threw his next Pokéball up in the air.

'_My turn Sister Meloetta,_' Ayame said as she extended her hand out to Meloetta. '_I've got that nice little surprise for this cocky and arrogant human._'

Meloetta then gave the shiny female Pumpkin Pokémon a slight nod and tagged her in to take her place. Once Meloetta came back from the battlefield, she returned to her original Aria Form and surprised many people, including Drew.

"You got lucky the first two times," snarled Drew, "but your luck is about to run out... Ash."

Ash said nothing as he was going to let Ayame do her thing without giving her an order. Drew... I think the fact that he was losing was getting to him.

"Roselia, use Poison Sting!" exclaimed Drew.

His male Roselia did as he was instructed and fired his Poison Sting attack at Ayame. For the shiny Kalos Ghost/Grass-Type Pokémon, facing off against Drew's Roselia was child's play to her. Ash said nothing nor did he give Ayame an order as Ayame made her own move.

'_Now you see me,_' said Ayame as she was about to disappear under the floor. '_Now you don't._'

The Poison-Type attack missed it's mark as Ayame disappeared under the floor with little difficulty. This new development was a surprise to Drew as he wasn't liking that Ash had new Pokémon and even two legendary Pokémon. Then we noticed that Ayame appeared next Drew's Roselia and made it seem like Halloween had come as little ghosts appeared and enveloped Drew's Grass/Poison-Type Pokémon. As the little ghosts enveloped Roselia, Ayame took a good look at her opponent and gave a slight smirk as it seemed that she had a plan.

'_I dunno who you are,_' began Drew's Roselia, '_but back off... whoever or whatever you are._'

Strangely enough, Ayame did as she was told still having the smirk on her face. The Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon seemed to have learned something that she was going to use to her advantage. Drew narrowed his eyes at Ayame as he wondered what the shiny Kalos Pokémon had in store plus he didn't know what kind of attack she used against his Roselia.

"Alright Roselia, use your Petal Dance," Drew ordered his Grass/Poison-Type Pokémon.

Ayame dodged the attack by disappearing under the floor with little difficulty as the petals came at her. Drew gritted his teeth as Ayame once again slipped his grasp. Even Drew's Roselia gritted his teeth as the Kalos Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon slipped his grasp. However, the battle was far from done as Ayame had advanced up near Drew's Roselia and then reappeared from the floor. Instead of using a physical attack, Ayame used her Shadow Ball attack on Roselia and it seemed to be a super effective attack on a Pokémon that is normally classified as a Grass/Poison-Type Pokémon.

'_Ahh!_' cried out Drew's Roselia as it was struck hard by the Shadow Ball attack.

"Wha? What's going on here?" demanded Drew. "How did your Pokémon inflict super effective damage on my Roselia when it's supposed to be a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon?"

'_Oh, it's nothing much,_' Ayame answered Drew. '_Just a nifty little attack called Trick-or-Treat. It's where I turn your Pokémon into a Ghost-type Pokémon._

'_And don't think I didn't know about your Roselia's Poison Point ability either,_' continued Ayame. '_Because I saw those poisonous barbs sticking out._'

When the smoke cleared, Roselia had already been knocked out by Ayame with circles in his eyes. Drew's Roselia had his mouth open agape in shock after being defeated.

'_Hey boss... I don't wanna go trick-or-treating again,_' Drew's Roselia said wearily before being recalled to his Pokéball.

"You think your Pokémon are so tough-looking," snarled Drew. "Well, I'm gonna give you a wake up call, pal! Go Masquerain!"

'_Ready to go, boss,_' said the Bug/Flying-type Pokémon.

"Masquerain, use Aqua Jet!" ordered Drew.

'_As you command boss,_' acknowledged Masquerain as he unleashed a powerful Water-type attack on Ayame.

Ayame didn't seem phased by the Aqua Jet attack, though it did do a little bit of damage. As for Drew, he was shocked to see Aqua Jet did very little damage to Ayame. For my rival, things weren't going as planned for him. His signature Pokémon got taken out by Ash's Oshawott, who then evolved into Dewott and then his other Pokémon were being taken down by Meloetta and now Ayame.

"How come your Ghost-type Pokémon didn't take that much damage from Masquerain's Aqua Jet?" asked a surprised Drew.

'_I'll let you in on a little secret, you pompous little boy,_' began Ayame. '_I'm not just any Ghost-type Pokémon. I'm a Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon, so that means your Masquerain's little Aqua Jet attack didn't do the kind of damage you were hoping for._'

Drew gritted his teeth as he didn't like Ayame's jab at him. In fact, he already lost his cool and was very angry. He then ordered his Masquerain to use it's Ice Beam attack hoping to gain some sort of advantage over Ayame, but the shiny female Pumpkin Pokémon just rolled her eyes and countered with her Flamethrower attack surprising the audience and both Erika and Ilex as well.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday," Ilex said to his wife, Erika. "Never thought I'd see a Grass-Type Pokémon have the ability to use Flamethrower.

Erika gave no reply, but nodded in agreement to Ilex's statement. Ayame's Flamethrower attack easily overpowered Masquerain's Ice Beam and took the little Bug/Flying-type Pokémon out in one move. Drew recalled his fallen Masquerain after it fell in defeat.

"Alright Miss High and Mighty let's see you take on one of my best Pokémon," Drew snapped at Ayame. "Let's go Flygon! Show that overconfident Ghost Pokémon that we mean business!"

'_You got it, Drew,_' acknowledged Flygon as it was ready for battle as well.

'_Sister Ayame, come back and tag me in,_' Latias requested Ayame. '_I can take on this Pokémon._'

'_But its a Ground-Type Pokémon and I have an advantage over Ground-Type Pokémon,_' insisted Ayame.

'You're half right Sister Ayame,' Victini called to Ayame. 'Flygon is a Ground-Type Pokémon, for sure. But Flygon is also a Dragon-type Pokémon as well, eliminating the weakness to Grass-types like you. It's best to listen to Sister Latias and let her battle Flygon.'

The shiny Gourgeist thought about her options and then nodded to herself as she made her choice. Ayame came back and tagged Latias in to the fight. Latias then transformed back into her normal self as a Pokémon from her usual form as her best friend, Bianca, from Alto Mare. Drew was very stunned to see Latias had been hiding so close and in plain sight. Fighting against Meloetta hadn't gone so well for him, but he thought that he could take on Latias since she too was a Dragon-type Pokémon like his Flygon.

"Looks like we've got a very easy battle, Flygon," Drew said to his Ground/Dragon-Type Mystic Pokémon. "Start by using Dragon Pulse!"

'_You got it Drew,_' acknowledged Flygon as he fired off his Dragon Pulse attack at Latias.

Ash said nothing, as Latias effortlessly dodged the Dragon-type attack and began to taunt Flygon. Flygon himself wasn't exactly happy with Latias taunting him and fired off a blistering Flamethrower attack, even though he knew that Latias would not take much damage from it. Latias dodged the Flamethrower attack as well and then decided that she need to end the battle before things would get out of hand, in her opinion. She then became invisible and causing Flygon to widen his eyes in shock and constantly looking around for his target. As Flygon was looking for Latias, Latias fired an Ice Beam attack at Flygon causing a tremendous amount of damage as because he was both a Ground-Type and Dragon-type Pokémon and both types were weak against Ice-type Pokémon. Flygon fell down in defeat with circles in his eyes. Drew was certainly upset to see that one of his best Pokémon had fallen in defeat.

"Why not quit while you still have some dignity left?" Ash asked Drew, hoping to end the conflict.

"No way," shot back Drew. "I... I can still beat you. I've done it before. I can do it again."

'_Not if I have anything to say about that,_' said Pikachu as it seemed that he was ready for his turn to fight.

'_Peace Brother Pikachu,_' Meloetta said calmly. '_I shall finish this fight._'

Pikachu let out a sigh of defeat as he was hoping to help knock Drew down a peg or two... or maybe even three. But Meloetta and Latias tagged each other and the Normal/Psychic-type Pokémon took Latias's place. Before Drew could call out his Butterfree, as I was sure that Drew was going to call on his Butterfree, someone from the audience stood up and threw off a cloak to reveal himself before throwing his Pokéball down to the stage.

"Alright Lickilicky time for us to get our revenge on that brat," the uncloaked person said as his Pokémon came out of it's Pokéball.

The Pokémon was pink and had an extremely long tongue. It looked like it was a Pokémon from the Sinnoh region. As for it's trainer, he was dressed like a noble in such fine clothes. Ash wasn't exactly thrilled to see the noble or his Pokémon once again. Drew had a confused look on his face as he saw the noble and his Sinnoh Normal-type Pokémon. Victini had a scowl on his face as he too saw the pink Normal-type Pokémon from Sinnoh.

'I've heard of that kind of Pokémon and thought it to be a very unusual and weird Pokémon,' Victini said as he saw the pink Normal-type Pokémon.

'_What kind of Pokémon is that, Brother Victini?_' asked Manaphy.

'It's known as Lickilicky, the Licking Pokémon, from Sinnoh,' answered Victini.

"Just great, another person I don't want to see," Ash said as he narrowed his eyes at the noble as he made his way down to the contest floor, not caring who he shoved out of the way.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little brat who had no right to stop me from marrying the girl I was destined to marry," the noble said with a sick and icy tone. "You're going to pay and pay with your life for interfering in the matters of nobility.

'_Not if I have have anything to say about it,_' snapped Pikachu as he was eager to fight.

"Alright Lickilicky, use your Hyper Beam at that brat," ordered the noble as I was alarmed that he ordered his own Pokémon to attack Ash.

Sadly, the pink Normal-type Pokémon from the Sinnoh region complied and fired his Hyper Beam at Ash. But thankfully, Latias was there to knock Ash down and she shielded him with her body. Despite having a calm nature, Meloetta was certainly upset with Lickilicky, as was Ayame and Latias herself. The three female Pokémon each shot a dirty look at the noble named Baron Alberto as they were going to defeat him themselves.

'_Come sisters, let us take this dishonorable foe down,_' Meloetta said in a calm yet icy tone.

'_No argument from me, Sister Meloetta,_' said Ayame.

Latias said nothing, but gave a slight nod of agreement as she was eager to fight back too. Baron Alberto mentally cursed himself for the fact that his Lickilicky had to recharge after using his Hyper Beam attack. This left his pink Normal-type Pokémon wide open for attack, or he just didn't think that his Pokémon needed to dodge attacks. Latias started attacking first by using her Ice Beam on Lickilicky and aimed it at his mouth so he couldn't use his Hyper Beam again. Lickilicky didn't even dodge the Ice Beam attack even though he wanted to dodge it. It seemed that his trainer was too proud and arrogant, thinking that his Lickilicky couldn't be defeated. I watched on the television as Ash's three female Pokémon just pounded on Lickilicky like a punching bag. Meloetta had once again changed form and the Fighting-Type moves she knew, Low Sweep and even Brick Break, causing super effective damage on the Normal-type Licking Pokémon.

Eventually, Lickilicky couldn't take anymore and fell in defeat to Meloetta, Ayame and Latias and had to be recalled with the ice muzzle still on his face. Before this Baron Alberto could try to charge at Ash, the police came and arrested him. As he was being drug away, he screamed that he was still going to kill Ash for interfering in the affairs of nobility. That a mere peasant had no place to tell him what he could and couldn't take and that peasants were to be trampled on.

Once the debacle with Baron Alberto was done with, Drew decided to give up on trying to win my heart and take me away from Ash. This pleased Meloetta, Ayame and Latias greatly as they went back into their Pokéballs without question. Breathing a sigh of relief, I was ready to continue on with the Palm Sun Oasis Pokémon contest.

"It looks like this time it's the Princess of Hoenn against Miss Jeanette Fisher this time announced the contest MC. "They'll be battling it out for the Oasis ribbon in this final round."

"Scyther and Whimsicott, let's go!" exclaimed Jeanette.

"Braixen and..." I began to say... until Victini revealed himself from being invisible.

'ME!' Victini exclaimed happily. 'Hello... ladies! It's every lady's favorite cute and furry little Casanova!'

Victini then gave off a flirty wink as he blew a big kiss to the girls and women in the arena. This caused many of them to become infatuated with my silly little buddy and squealed at how cute and how he was so adorable. Braixen and I weren't exactly thrilled to see Victini on the stage with us, but we had no choice, but to allow Victini to stay on the stage with us. Even Jeanette was a bit upset with Victini, but said nothing so not to make those who were charmed by Victini very upset.

Letting out an annoyed sigh, I had no choice but to let Victini stay sense this was a double battle and time had already started.

"Scyther, use Night Slash on Victini!" Jeanette commanded her Bug/Flying-type Pokémon. "Whimsicott, use your Knock Off attack on Braixen!"

'_Roger that, Mistress Jeanette,_' acknowledged both Pokémon as they came at both of my Fire-type Pokémon.

"Dodge those attacks," I countered back. "Victini, Thunderbolt on Scyther! Braixen, use Heat Wave with your Psychic attack!"

'You got it May!' exclaimed Victini.

'_Sure thing May,_' acknowledged Braixen as she prepared her combination attack.

"Dodge Victini's Thunderbolt by using Double Team, Scyther," Jeanette countered back in response to me telling Victini to use an attack that her Scyther was weak against. "Whimsicott, dodge that attack and use Fairy Wind with Razor Leaf on Braixen."

'_Got it,_' acknowledged both of Jeanette's Pokémon as they dodged my Pokémon's attacks with little difficulty.

Both of us were certainly losing points because neither of our Pokémon could land a hit against the opposing Pokémon. I had to admit that Jeanette was certainly a skilled Pokémon trainer and I was being to see why Ash had a difficult time against her in the Indigo League. Putting aside my awe and amazement of Jeanette's skills as a trainer, I focused on the task at hand. Both my shiny Fox Pokémon and my silly little buddy looked to our points counter and had a grim look on their faces.

'Alright Sister Braixen, let's make this combo they'll never forget,' Victini said to Braixen.

'_What do you have in mind, Brother Victini?_' asked Braixen as she was a little cautious with Victini.

'We need to cause our attacks to hit home and hit fast before Scyther and Whimsicott have a chance to dodge the attack,' answered Victini. 'Your Heat Wave attack should be able to damage both of them. I'll use my Psychic attack to help widen the area of your Heat Wave attack to finally land a hit on them.'

'_Hmm... sounds like a good plan, Brother Victini,_' Braixen said a smirk on her face. '_Let's do it then._'

Giving Braixen a slight nod, Victini then got into position and waited on Braixen to use her Heat Wave attack again. Scyther and Whimsicott went on the offensive quickly as soon as they saw Victini Braixen giving each other a slight nod.

'_We're not giving you a chance to even land a direct hit on us,_' Scyther said to Braixen and Victini.

'_Here we come! We've got this ribbon for Mistress Jeanette in the bag,_' added Whimsicott as she charged at Victini.

Neither Braixen nor Victini said anything, but gave each other a slight nod and then took a brief glimpse at the clock as it showed there were 30 seconds left on the clock. Braixen then used her Heat Wave attack as it streamed towards the Bug/Flying-type Pokémon and Grass/Fairy-Type Pokémon. Victini wasted no time and used his Psychic attack on Braixen's Heat Wave attack and increased the radius of the attack. Both of Jeanette's Pokémon tried to pull back and out of their attacks, but failed to pull back in time as both of them were finally hit by an attack. As time ran out, Jeanette's point meter ran out.

"And we have a winner!" exclaimed the MC. "May Haruka, the Princess of Hoenn wins the Oasis Ribbon and takes another step closer to entering the Unova Grand Festival!"

The audience applauded me as I had won my second contest ribbon. Some of the girls, I could still hear squealing at how cute Victini was. Victini and Braixen waved to the crowd happily and Victini... was being Victini as always. I hoped the week long 'hall pass' that Katsumi gave my silly little buddy would end soon because I knew Victini was going to keep hitting on girls until his mate came back. Jeanette and I shook hands before I was presented with the Oasis Ribbon for winning the Palm Sun Oasis Pokémon contest.

'Are you sure that you wish to join us, Lady Erika?' Victini asked the Grass-Type gym leader from Celadon City.

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Erika with a beaming smile on her face. "There more Grass-Type Pokémon for me to try to and find. I would like to try and find as many Grass-Type Pokémon here in Unova as possible."

"It's not going to affect your children, is it?" asked Hilda as she was a little concerned.

Erika lightly chuckled as she answered, "I'm only two weeks pregnant. It's going to take a while before I start showing signs of a baby bump. Besides, my loveable Celebi is here to protect me."

Ilex certainly blushed as Erika brought up her pet name for him. I still found it hard to believe that Erika's husband was a Celebi at one time and then decided that he wanted to become a human being. It did seem like The Princess and the Politoed I was always told as a little girl. But it was Ilex's choice and Erika was happy, so I really wasn't in a position to say anything. I wondered what Ilex and Erika were going to tell their children once they were born. Were they planning on telling their children the truth about Ilex or some made up story? Oh well, it was a thought for another time. Our next destination was Nimbasa City for our next gym battle and the fashion show that Hilda and I were to participate in.

Author's Note: And cut! I would like to thank deviantArt member and new partner AdvanceArcy for all of her help in writing this chapter

Victini: 'Hello there to all of ladies who read this fic! Feel free to comment about how much you love a certain cute and furry little Pokémon... ME! ^_^

Braixen: [Pulling Victini away by his left ear] '_Let's go Victini... the readers only need to leave comments and reviews about this chapter for the author, Sparky._'

Victini: 'Ow, ow, ow, ow! But I still am using my week long hall pass, Sister Braixen!' _

Like Braixen said, feel free to leave comments and reviews on the chapter and I hope hear from you again. I just felt like writing even though I'm on my 60 day hiatus. Until then my friends... Ja Ne! ^_^


	22. Chapter 20

**Michiru: '**_**Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. He is only using them for entertainment purposes only.**_**'**

**Victini: 'Hey it's my turn to do the disclaimer! My turn!'**

**Michiru: '**_**I'm sorry, but it seemed like you were too busy hitting on Shirona for affection again. I thought you were still on your week-long hall pass your mate gave you.**_**'**

**Victini: 'But I can still do the disclaimer!' :'(**

**Me: Thank you Michiru. Here's another enjoyable chapter of Ash and May's journey through Unova.**

**Victini and Michiru: 'Take it away Sparky!'**

20: The Dazzling Fashion Show at the Nimbasa Gym

'Ugh, I hate having to deal with those Team Rocket buffoons,' Victini said to the group as we had to deal with our least favorite trio's next dastardly plot to steal Pokémon. 'Why can they not just simply give up?'

'_It seems we're in agreement, Brother Victini,_' said Pikachu as he too was getting really annoyed with Jessie, James and Meowth. '_They've been after me for years and I can't stomach another confrontation with them again._'

'_Let's just hope that former Team Rocket duo can actually dismantle or destroy Team Rocket for good,_' said Anna's Clefairy. '_Anna and I have had our share our of battles against Team Rocket too. Found one of their bases in Celadon City itself._'

"Yeah, it wasn't fun for us when we got into their Celadon base," added Anna. "Though we did cause quite the commotion for them. We probably rattled Giovanni too."

"Wait, you met this Giovanni guy?" Ash asked his older twin sister, the last time he and Misty ever encountered Giovanni was back in Johto when he and Team Rocket tried to get their hands on Mewtwo and the other clone Pokemon at Mount Quena, which they no idea why aside from the fact that Mewtwo was an extremely powerful Pokemon in a way.

"Yeah, just a few times," answered Anna as she recalled her meetings with the leader of Team Rocket. "When you left Kanto for a second time, Team Rocket tried to take over Saffron City and steal all the technology that the Sliph Corporation was making. I even got these too as a reward for helping to drive off Giovanni and his Team Rocket goons."

Anna then produced three purple Pokéballs that had pink circles on the top and white 'M' imprinted on the Pokéball itself. Anna had a confident grin on her face as she showed off the purple Pokéballs to us. Ash was certainly surprised to see such Pokéballs in existence. Unlike Ash, I recognized them looking like that one Pokéball that fisherman tried to use to catch an oversized Whiscash. Anna gave her brother one of the purple Pokéballs and gave me the other one too. She said they were called Master Balls and that they were guaranteed to catch to catch any Pokémon no matter how strong and powerful they are. I was certainly glad that this didn't get in the hands of Team Rocket, because I shuddered at the thought of what they could do with the Master Ball and how they could use that against trainers.

"Thanks sis," Ash said as both he and I each took a Master Ball.

"No problem... little brother," Anna replied with grin on her face.

"Hey guys, we've reached Nimbasa City," Hilda told us as we saw the large city, centrally located in the middle of the Unova region.

'_I think it's time that you stopped hitting on pretty girls for affection, Brother Victini,_' Pikachu said to my silly little buddy after Victini hit on Nurse Joy. '_I know your mate gave you that week long 'hall pass,' but this has gone on long enough._'

'I got us the best rooms, didn't I?' Victini asked Pikachu with grin on his face in triumph.

"Yes, but it did not require you to flirt with Nurse Joy, Victini," Ilex answered for Pikachu and those of us who were annoyed at Victini's constant flirting. "But I do ask that you keep the knowledge of Erika's pregnancy to yourself, please."

'Relax, I would never go around and tell people that your wife carries your offspring,' Victini assured Ilex coolly. 'But how will your offspring deal with the fact that their father was once a Pokémon? If you ask me, I think you shouldn't tell them.'

"No, Ilex and I are not going to keep our children from the truth about their father," Erika informed Victini. "It'll be up to them on how they react to learning their father used to be a Pokémon."

'You're certainly a brave woman, Lady Erika,' Lucario said to the Grass-type trainer. 'But you are right, there is no need to hide the origins of Ilex from your children.'

After getting settled into our rooms and receiving a note from our new employer, Hilda and I went over to the Nimbasa City gym where our employer asked us to meet her. Both Hilda and I were a bit nervous to be meeting with Relena's older sister after the terrifying experience we had when we first met with her in Castellia City. But our fears were found to be false when Jessica met us with Argon and her other two Pokémon.

"I see that you two made it," Jessica said to both Hilda and I calmly. "May, congratulations on winning the Oasis Ribbon at the Palm Sun Oasis contest."

"Thank you," I said to Jessica, still feeling a little nervous.

"Have you two figured out which Pokémon you're going to use in your gym battle against Elesa?" Jessica asked both of us.

'_Me, Mama!_' Manaphy exclaimed happily. '_Pick me Mama! I wanna help you out in your gym battle._'

'You can count me in as well, May,' Victini said as he appeared from behind me. 'You're gonna need help against the Electrifying Elesa. I hear she's quite the knockout and has the beauty to back it up.'

Jessica then began to laugh after Victini commented on how he beautiful he had heard Elesa to be. I'm guessing that Victini was right, because Jessica didn't dispute what he heard. Jessica gave a slight nod to Manaphy and Victini as they had volunteered to help in my gym battle against Elesa. But when Manaphy volunteered and Victini mentioned through his hint that Elesa uses Electric-type Pokémon, I was quite worried about using Manaphy in the gym battle. At first I hadn't even thought about which Pokémon I could use in battle against Elesa until one of Richie's Pokémon had come to me and said, '_If you're looking for another ally to use in battle against this Elesa gym leader, I, Anter of the Thunder Fang tribe, would be more than happy to battle alongside you._'

I turned and saw that the Pokémon offering his aid to me was Anter, Richie's shiny male Luxray he caught in his and Relena's home region. I was surprised that Richie would let one of his Pokémon aid me in battle. But with all that I had been learning about Electric-type Pokémon from Max, how could I refuse an offer of aid? I gave Anter a slight nod, accepting his help as I was going to need it.

'_My humans permitted me to come aid you,_' Anter continued. '_And Lady Relena wishes to inform you that one of her female Pokémon, one of my two mates, has conceived offspring and is willing to give you one of them if you can defeat Elesa._'

'Your... humans?' Victini asked Anter dumbfounded. 'I thought you are owned by humans.'

'_I may be owned by Master Richie,_' began Anter. '_But I am much older than him and Lady Relena. Most of the Pokémon they have caught in the Atlantica Islands are much older than them. Therefore, we have the right to call them 'our humans'._'

Jessica then cleared her throat getting back to business as she had been making sketches of the three Pokémon I was using. But since I already had an outfit to go with Manaphy, I doubted that she was going to design a different outfit for me to use. The outfit I had certainly looked like it was from an Arabian Nights tale. Hee hee, maybe I should've gotten a bit tanner just to try and look like I was from an Arabian Nights story. Jessica then looked to Hilda as it was her turn to let our employer know what Pokémon she was using.

"I'm definitely gonna use Sylveon for sure," Hilda said with certainty. "I'd like to use Zekrom, but you guys keep telling me not use him in contests. I'll use that Flygon I got through that really bizarre Wonder Trade on Join Avenue."

Then Zekrom came out of his Heal Ball and looked to Hilda. I was alarmed that Zekrom had come out his Heal Ball and was worried that someone would see him with Hilda. But most of us in the group might've been a bit too worried. Zekrom looked to Hilda with a glance and then to his trainer's employer.

'Do not be afraid to use my strength in battle, young Heroine of Ideals,' Zekrom said to Hilda calmly and reassuringly. 'I am not afraid of those wicked Team Plasma fools.'

Looking to Zekrom and then to me and Jessica, Hilda gave a slight nod to Zekrom as she was going to use him after all and against our advice. But then again, it was never our decision even though we were just concerned that Hilda was going to be targeted by Team Plasma and Team Rocket. Jessica gave a slight nod of approval as she liked our team selections.

"Hmm... good choices for both of you," Jessica said as she was scribbling down some notes. "Hilda will be very easy as I only have to make one outfit and that'll go with Flygon. As for you, May, you have one outfit, the Manaphy outfit you wore in the Castellia City contest. I'll have to design two outfits for you, since you're using Victini and a Pokémon belonging to my baby sister's fiancé.

"I assume that you want these two outfits to have your midriff showing, correct?" Jessica asked me about the outfits she was going to design for me.

Relena's sister didn't really have to ask me that question as my answer was a no brainer. She knew after seeing my first contest outfit that was what I was going for.

As Hilda and I were preparing ourselves for our Gym Battle with Elesa, Ash decided to train his Pokemon with his former rival Jeanette right outside the Pokemon Center with Latias in human form watching from nearby and especially as it's been a long time since the two ever had a proper battle since the Indigo League then again she had improved due to her training and travels. "Been a while since the last time we've got the chance to face each other" began Ash with a light smile and both Meloetta and Pikachu by his side, which the elegant trainer from Crimson City could emulate then held her first Pokéball.

"Yeah, still I'd like to see how well you'll do this time… go Epona!" she sent out a familiar Fire-Type from Ash's travels in the Kanto region yet there was something about this Rapidash that caught his eye as the fire from its neck, part of its back, its fetlocks and even the flame tail were gray rather than the red and orange flames that regular Rapidashes usually have which my fiance's eyes widened with surprise.

"I've never seen a Rapidash like that before…" he said and assumed that the opposing Pokemon was a shiny, which Jeanette gave a soft smile on her face then glanced at the Pokemon that she had sent out during their sparing match and her shiny Whimsicott knew that story well while standing by her trainer's side. "How did you manage to get it anyway?"

"She was actually from my travels when I was younger, then again I caught her as a Ponyta and cared for her ever since…" she spoke, reflecting on the day she met Rapidash prior though the way she looked it was a sign that her trainer raised the shiny Fire Horse well. "Let's see how you deal with her?"

Ash remained silent, he needed to pick his Pokemon carefully as when Hilda and I were given the box from Jessica, there was another note exclusively for him saying that an old friend from the Kanto region was waiting for him at Nimbasa City and at first we didn't know who this old friend was at the time along the way though it wasn't until long that we would soon learn who this old friend was. "I know who I'm going with… my old friend, Squirtle!" he said, sending out his Water-Type Pokemon from the Kanto region, the last time I saw him was when he, Bulbasaur and Charizard took on Brandon at the Battle Pyramid and I was rather surprised when I decided to check on him since he needed to be present when Hilda and I have our match only to see that he and Jeanette were about to begin their battle.

"Is that Squirtle?" I asked, taking Dexette out and scanned the familiar Tiny Turtle Pokemon that Ash sent into battle.

_Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokemon. It shelters itself in its shell, and then strikes back with spout of water at every opportunity._

I stood in silence as I never would have expected to see Squirtle at all; more so how he was even in Unova to begin with though I'm assuming if Squirtle was here then the Officer Jenny that he and the Squirtle Squad were long since with must be in the city then again Hilbert had learned his and Hilda's friend Bianca was somewhere in the city enjoying the sights so he could at least check to see how she was doing. "Good choice, still I'd like to see how he'll do against one of the Pokemon that helped me win the Johto League" began Jeanette, though this commented made us even more shocked than ever as we never actually known she won a Pokemon League to begin with. "Enough talk, Epona use Quick Attack now!"

'_Understood!' _smiled the shiny Rapidash nicknamed Epona, which meant that she could have gotten the female Fire-Type either from Relena or Jessica or even from a trade with trainer but my fiancé smirked as he knew what to do.

"Squirtle, defend with Withdraw!" he said, Squirtle went into his shell to withstand the Quick Attack moments before it could strike him though he had another idea since Fire-Types were naturally weak to Water-Type attacks but the revelation that Jeanette was a Johto League champion made him suspect that she might not have used her best Pokemon against him back at the Indigo League and realized that she wanted to wait till the finals to use them had she won their battle but never got the chance to do so, a sign that she was stronger than we realized. "Now use Water Gun!"

While in the air, Squirtle unleashed his jet of water at Epona. "Dodge with Bounce!" countered Jeanette, we were strongly surprised that Epona knew a Flying-Type attack to avoid being hit by Squirtle's Water Gun attack and made her look like she was flying when we knew she couldn't do so, unfortunately Squirtle no time to react as she came down while performing front flips, striking him with her two front hooves at speed. "Now use your Stomp!"

"Dodge and use Bubblebeam!" Ash had Squirtle quickly avoid being stepped on by Epona's attack and unleashed multiple bubbles which scored a direct hit on the Fire-Type and while super-effect, it wasn't enough to completely bring down the proud Fire Horse.

"Not bad Ash, still I have ways of taking down Water-Types like Squirtle… Fire Spin!" said Jeanette, which Epona unleashed gray fire from her flame tail and it began forming a fire vortex around Squirtle as if they were planning to wear him down enough to finish him off but at least it didn't knock him out easily unlike when he went up against Blaine's Ninetales at Cinnabar Island. "Time to heat things up!"

"Oh yeah, Squirtle hurry and use Rapid Spin!" he ordered, Squirtle went into his shell and began to spin at top speed until it doused the flames completely then got back into his fighting stance despite a few burns he has.

'_Don't look so surprised, I can take the heat!_' grinned Squirtle, he had a few hidden surprises of his very own which only made Epona and Jeanette smile brightly as they've come up with a brilliant strategy in order to win this round of their match.

"In that case, use Flamethrower!"

"Use Water Gun to douse the fire!" Ash once again countered, the Water Gun and the Flamethrower collided and steam formed within the battlefield, though none of us knew this was what Jeanette wanted as Epona charged surrounded by fire while hitting Squirtle right where he stood, we immediately recognized her attack as Flame Charge but while it wouldn't do that much damage on Squirtle, it would increase Epona's speed each time she uses it. "Oh great…"

"Now let's use our combination!" she said, having Epona use Quick Attack from behind, striking Squirtle once more then again with a second Quick Attack and a third one that somehow caused critical damage let they were planning to rap it up with those Quick Attacks but there was something else that the champion from Crimson City had which caused a gleam to be shown in her eyes and Epona's as this would be the decider. "Use Stomp attack!"

"Dodge it and use your Bubblebeam now!" while having already taken a beaten from that combination of Quick Attacks, the leader of the Squirtle Squad was able to jump out of the way of that Stomp attack though Jeanette knew it was time to pull off their plan.

"Dodge with Agility and get ready to give him a taste of your Wild Charge!"

'_Here is goes!_' said Epona, dodging the Bubblebeam with her Agility and used her increased speed to run up towards Squirtle, her body becoming surrounded by yellow electricity, which made her look gold and white, and tackled Ash's Water-Type before he had time to react, sending him crashing onto the ground below yet Ash, Latias and I couldn't believe our eyes as it wasn't everyday that a Fire-Type Pokemon could use a Flying-Type move like Bounce or an Electric-Type move though it seems that it might have been enough to defeat Squirtle. '_It's over…_'

Yet she saw that Squirtle was not completely knocked out by the attack. "You okay Squirtle?" he asked his Pokemon, the Tiny Turtle struggled to get back onto his feet however from the looks of it… one more hit like that and it would be it, though it wasn't until long before Squirtle found himself enveloped in white like that began changing him. "Squirtle?"

'_Is brother Squirtle evolving?'_ asked Meloetta, seeing Squirtle was slowly beginning to change form and Pikachu nodded, realizing that now it was his turn to do so then after what nearly seemed like an eternity… the light dissipated and Squirtle's form had changed into that of a bipedal, indigo-blue Pokemon similar to what he is only he now had brown eyes, a dark blue streak on each cheek, and two sharp teeth protruding from his upper jaw. His hands now had three clawed fingers, his feet had pointed toes and his body had bluish white fur covering his now long ears and tail.

We were all in surprise and awe as I silently took Dexette out again to scan Ashy's newly evolved Wartortle._ Wartortle, the Turtle Pokemon and the evolved form of Squirtle_ began Dexette, reciting Wartortle's Pokédex entry. _It is said to live for 10,000 years. Its furry tail is popular as a symbol of longevity._

"Alright Wartortle!" said Ash, realizing that as of now all of his Kanto starters had evolved if only his Charizard could have been here to see this but oh well, he had a round to win then nodded to his Pokemon as he was about ready to give his next command when Wartortle interrupted.

'_Ash before you give your next command let me bring out my secret move._' He said, which surprised Ash, Pikachu, Meloetta, Latias and myself when he said that but my fiancé nodded giving him permission to do so and upon the Turtle Pokemon letting out a loud yell, the sky turns dark and clouds formed as it began raining heavily all around the battlefield then revealed the item he was holding.

'_You see this rock? It's called the Damp Rock, as long as I'm holding it while in battle and activate the Rain Dance attack, it extends the effects longer than normal plus you'll be surprised by what happens next._'

Before any of us could say a word, we saw Wartortle was glowing light blue as he was feeling rejuvenated from the blows he had taken earlier in the battle while Epona and Jeanette couldn't believe what was happening, speaking of Epona…. She wasn't quite happy with the rain as it actually weakens her Fire-Type moves and wondered how Wartortle is able to heal himself by activating Rain Dance then something hit them. "Your ability is Rain Dish rather than Torrent isn't it?" asked Jeanette, surprising even more and looked on as Ash's Pokemon silently nodded his head to confirm, making us realize that like Gabite, Wartortle came from the Dream World if he had the Rain Dish ability which Ash was starting to realize why his Water-Type was leader of the Squirtle Squad to begin with.

"Alright, if this is true then this might be our chance to win…" Ash began giving his signature smirk, and then gave Wartortle a nod before preparing his next command as he needed to at least take advantage of this and the fact Rain Dance can strengthen Water-Type attacks. "Wartortle, use your Hydro…" However, as my fiancée was about to finish his command…. Officer Jenny arrived in her motorcycle plus it was a bit nostalgic to see an old school Officer Jenny rather than the ones who live here in Unova.

"Officer Jenny, what's wrong?" asked Jeanette, she and Epona saw the expression on Officer Jenny's face which was never a good sign whenever we see this.

Officer Jenny nodded her head and said. "We've got some serious trouble… Apparently some wild Grass-Type Pokemon are starting to appear all over the city" the moment she explained the situation, we frowned as now it looks like Ash's and Jeanette's match will have to wait until we can stop those Grass-Types. "I was on my way to get Squirtle so he and the Squirtle Squad could assist us when I saw you were having a battle."

"Yeah about that…" I spoke, revealing that Ash's Squirtle has evolved in the match with Epona and Officer Jenny frowned a bit, knowing that the Squirtle Squad would be shocked to see their leader is now a Wartortle but first things first. "Where did these Grass-Types come from? Normally swarms of Pokemon wouldn't just appear in a town or city without any explanation."

"Your guess is as good as mine May" answered Officer Jenny, giving a frown though if she was going to help save the city, she couldn't do it alone. "I hope you kids wouldn't mind helping us resolve this problem would you?"

"Of course not, there's no way we're going to allow the city to be destroyed can we?" Jeanette replied, which we both nodded our head as continuing their match would have to wait until this is all resolved right now. "We better get the others, we might have to fight with all our strength in order to drive off those Grass-Types even though Whimsicott wouldn't want to have to do so."

Ash silently nodded and glanced at Meloetta, Pikachu, Wartortle and Latias, who returned to her Pokemon form so she can help while Wartortle placed on his Squirtle Squad sunglasses since he knew an Ice-Type move that could be useful against the opposing horde. "Alright, let's get going!" he said with a confident smile.

In the meantime, as Officer Jenny warned, there were Grass-Type Pokemon appearing in Nimbasa City and some of which really frightened the people in the city while others like Hilbert and Bianca knew they had to battle in order to stop their rampage with their Bianca sending out her Pignite while Hilbert called for his Pansage to help the Fire-Type out, fortunately Hilda called and said the rest of us will be joining with them shortly much to their relief since it would take more than just the two of them in order to win especially as Anna sent out her Rufflet while Erika released Bellossom from her Pokéball with Ilex standing by his wife's side getting ready to join the fray as two of the Grass-Types suddenly appeared before them… one was a Snivy and the other was none other than a Chikorita, a Grass-Type Pokémon from the Johto Region as they saw Anna's Rufflet and Erika's Bellossom, they didn't look happy at all.

All of us were confused as to why a horde of Grass-type Pokémon were coming through the streets of Nimbasa City. A few of us had Dream Balls appear as it was then apparent that the Grass-type Pokémon had to have been from the Dream World if those Dream Balls appeared. Erika received some Dream Balls in her hands as she had her eye on a Snivy that looked lost and some other Grass-type Pokémon as well. The Snivy that Erika had her eye on was a shiny Pokémon.

'_Wha? Why are we here in the real world?_' asked the shiny Snivy to no one in particular. '_Ahh! M-Must get... out of... this horde. Otherwise... I... might get... trampled on._'

Forcing her way out of the horde, the shiny Snivy made it out safely and let out a sigh of relief. But the shiny Snivy had gotten out right next to Erika and Ilex. The shiny female Grass Snake Pokémon from the Dream World looked to Erika and gave a slight nod to her at first and then turned to watch the horde of Dream World Grass-Type Pokémon going through the city streets. Erika had returned the slight nod to the Snivy and readied one of the Dream Balls to capture the said Snivy. It was then that the Snivy turned to see the Celadon Grass-Type gym leader readying a Dream Ball. At first the shiny Grass Snake Pokémon was thinking about running away but then realized that maybe she could try working alongside a human.

'_Do you train Grass-Type Pokémon, human female?_' the shiny female Snivy asked Erika.

"Yes, Grass-Types are my specialty," Erika answered the Snivy. "After seeing one of my friends with a Snivy, I've wanted to find my own Snivy.

Taking a better part of the day, it took us and other trainers about five hours to corral and lead the Dream World Grass-Type Pokémon out of Nimbasa City. Erika was beaming with enthusiasm as she had apparently captured a few of the Dream World Grass-Type Pokémon before the horde left. Other than the shiny female Snivy she caught, she caught a shiny Skiddo with some ability called Grass Pelt and two shiny Petilil, one of which she traded to another trainer who didn't like a shiny Ghost/Grass-type Kalos Pokémon they picked up from the horde. The Pokémon was another Pumpkaboo that evolved into a Gourgeist like Ash's Gourgeist, Ayame. As for Anna, she caught herself a shiny female Chikorita with the Leaf Guard ability, an energetic Treecko with an ability called Unburden and knew Dragon Breath, a Cacnea with Water Absorb that knew Power-Up Punch, a Fighting-type move from the Kalos region and her own Roselia with Leaf Guard and knew the Fairy-type move Dazzling Gleam that some of our Pokémon in the group know as well as knowing Seed Bomb. Bianca was lucky too in catching some a few Grass-Type Pokémon for herself. Bianca caught a Bulbasaur with Chlorophyll and knew the move Power Whip, a shiny female Oddish with the Run Away ability and knew Razor Leaf and a shiny female Sunkern with the Ground-Type move Earth Power.

Even Ash was able to catch new Pokémon for himself. He caught himself a shiny male Tangela with the Regenerator ability and the Shock Wave move and a shiny male Chespin, from the Kalos region, with Kalos Dream World ability Bulletproof and knowing the move Smack Down. Everyone was happy with the Dream World Grass-Type Pokémon we all caught, including me. I took it upon myself to capture my own shiny female Snivy, with the Contrary ability like Ren and Erika's new shiny Snivy that knew Aqua Tail. I had even caught myself a shiny female Roselia with Leaf Guard and knew Dazzling Gleam and Extrasensory. Heh, I was thinking that Drew was going to be jealous that had gotten a shiny Roselia that was going to have an advantage over his Roserade and then I review my last Grass-Type Pokémon that I caught. The last Pokémon I had caught, oddly enough was a shiny Lilligant with the Leaf Guard ability like my Roselia and knew Giga Drain. I was certainly pleased, just as much as everyone else and I was wanting to begin training them. But with the fashion show/gym battle coming up, my mind was more on what Hilda's and my employer was going to do to us.

Once everyone reorganized their parties of Pokémon, everyone settled down for a nice evening. Ash and I decided to go towards a Ferris Wheel and have a nice time without our Pokémon. Poor Manaphy wanted so badly to come with us, but I was firm told him that he needed to stay with his brothers. Luckily Pikachu was there to offer him some candy. Heh, like a little child Manaphy accepted the candy and I instructed Pikachu not to give Manaphy too much candy... and not to get him hooked on ketchup like him. Hilda and Hilbert went off in their own direction while Misty decided to call back to Cerulean City and check in on the gym and making sure that her sisters weren't just handing out badges like they had done in the past. As Ash and I went to the big Ferris Wheel by the Nimbasa City gym, we encountered a strange looking, yet cute looking teenage boy. Luckily Ash was oblivious as to why I had giggled when I saw the good looking boy. The boy had introduced himself introduced as N and had some Pokémon with him and was wanting to challenge Ash to a battle after mentioning something about judging his stance with Pokémon and wanting to why he was traveling and battling with Pokémon. Knowing Ash, he was about to sprint back to the Pokémon Center to get some of his Pokémon, but I put a stop to it quickly. I politely told N that Ash and I were on a date and offered to have Ash battle him another time.

"But May, he's asked me to battle him," protested Ash. "You know that I won't back down from a challenge."

"We all know that, Ash," I calmly said to my fiancé. "But you made an obligation to go on this date with me and left your Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. Which is more important to you? Me? Or accepting his challenge?"

"Um... maybe I came to you at a bad time," N said nervously. "I'll wait challenge you another time, when you're not in the middle of a date."

With that, N walked away and we got back to our date night. Though... Ash was a bit upset that I put him on the spot and made him choose between battling N or staying on our date. I told myself that I would make it up to him in some way shape or form. After telling myself that I was gonna make up putting Ash on the spot, both Ash and I got on the Ferris wheel and began the slow ascent upward into the sky. At first I thought Ash was still upset with me because I had thwarted an opportunity for him to battle N and sat on the opposite side of the car. Ash was a bit upset, but he wasn't as upset as I thought he might be. He moved over to my side of the car and got me to sit on his lap, facing him. I gave him a weak smile and then leaned in to give him a gentle kiss on his lips as I was glad that we went on our date that night.

Four hours later, both Hilda and I got a note from Jessica, Relena's older sister, to meet her at clothing store to receive our outfits for the fashion show/gym battle tomorrow. We came to find out Bianca was also taking part in the fashion show/gym battle as well and had outfits made for her after agreeing to be on Jessica's payroll and work for her too. I guess working for someone who has Pokémon as business partners didn't phase or scare Bianca at all. The three of us went to go meet Jessica to receive our outfits that she and her three Pokémon made for Hilda, Bianca and I. Hilda received her outfit with the colors of the Ground/Dragon-Type Pokémon, Flygon. Her outfit was a knee length green dress, with a darker green jacket, and matching Greco-Roman type sandals and red-tinted glasses. With the pumps for Hilda's Zekrom outfit, Jessica had added electric blue lightning streaks.

As for me, I got a black sleeveless jacket with a short sleeved tan shirt allowing my midriff to show, a knee-length skirt, and tan cowboy boots for the shiny Luxray outfit and as for the Victini outfit, an orange top which allowed my midriff to show, and tan shorts with white backless tennis shoes was made for me. Bianca didn't stick around for Hilda and I to see her outfits for the fashion show/gym battle that was scheduled the next day. Both Hilda and I were eager to get back to our boyfriends as we had a feeling that they were already asleep, after waiting for us for so long.

As we headed back to our rooms, we noticed another girl around our age coming in our direction. She had carmine red hair, amber colored eyes, about a couple inches shorter than me, around Relena's and my age... no, she was a couple years older than me and Relena at least. She wore a sleeveless red shirt with a black stripe running down the middle, a sleeveless black jacket over her red shirt, black shorts, a red band on her left and a bracelet that looked like Relena's bracelet she used in aiding Michiru's mega evolution into Mega Gardevoir, a tan bandana loosely around her neck, a brown satchel around her waist, black socks, red shoes with black trimming, a Pokéball on a necklace and a black hairband with Pokéball buttons on it. The girl let out a long sigh as it seemed she had the same kind of bag we were given by Jessica.

"How did I let myself get talked into becoming a model for Relena's fashion designer sister?" the girl asked herself and her Pikachu sitting hanging from her left shoulder.

'_I dunno Mikki,_' answered the girl's Pikachu. '_Maybe it was her Sylveon partner, Asami, that got to you or that she promised that you could look very sexy just so you can impress Steven Stone._'

"There's nothing wrong with looking sexy," the girl shot back to her Pikachu. "Besides, Steven thinks I'm cute and asked me if I wanted to date him."

'_How can I forget, Mikki?_' asked a very annoyed Pikachu as he rolled his eyes and shook. '_You practically and literally dropped everything... Everything, including me when he said that he wanted to date you._

'_I think it's gonna take a long time before I understand human females,_' finished the girl's Pikachu after letting out a long sigh.

It was then that I cleared my throat and got the girl's attention, as well as her Pikachu's attention. The girl and her Pikachu noticed me and approached both Hilda and I. I was eying her bag was a little bit curious at what she had. It seemed as though as if she had noticed our bags too and was curious to see what we had in our bags.

"I take it you got roped in by Jessica Kaiou too," the girl assumed as she looked to Hilda and I.

"Sort of," Hilda answered sheepishly. "She made us an outfit for the Castellia City contest and another outfit for me."

"Basically, we volunteered at first, but then she decided to hire us to pay her back for the outfits she made us," I explained to the girl. "We heard you mention Relena, how do you know her?"

The girl then studied me for a moment and then widen her eyes in surprise. She took a step back and then asked, "How do you know Relena?"

"You first," I said to the girl. "Tell us who you are and how you came to know Relena."

"My name is Mikki Shiozaki," began the girl. "I was born in Azalea Town in Johto and then moved to Celadon City with my family."

"I'm May Haruka," I said to Mikki as I began to introduce myself.

"You're the famous Princess of Hoenn," Mikki said before I could continue to introduce myself. "Relena, told me a lot about you. Said you're a proud mother to a Manaphy, have a really cute looking boyfriend, you're a talented Pokémon Coordinator and if you ever get angry about food getting stolen, to grab a hard hat and duck for cover."

I was certainly taken aback at Mikki's knowledge of me. The only people who me so well were my own fiancé, Relena and my family. But Mikki seemed friendly enough and well knowledgeable as I wondered if she knew about Hilda as well.

"You seem very knowledgeable about May," Hilda said with a slight giggle. "I'm..."

"You're Hilda Touko, the newly crowned Princess of Unova and Heroine of Ideals," Mikki said with a grin on her face. "Yeah, Relena told me about you too."

Hilda was amazed that Mikki knew about her as well and the fact that she was the Heroine of Ideals. Both Hilda and I looked at each other in bewilderment. We were wondering how much of us did Relena share with Mikki and we were going to find until, I got a small shiver run down my spine. I had a feeling that my silly little buddy had come out of the room I was sharing with Ash. Before I could get to my room, Mikki saw that her left hand was being lifted gingerly and of course... my Victini appeared in front of her.

'My dear, you have beauty beyond description,' Victini said to Mikki with a grin on his face. 'You're eyes are like polished Amber gems, glistening in the warm sun. Just your presence brings warmth to these cold hallways and your gentleness brings calm to those who are lost in their fury.'

Mikki was profusely blushing as Victini flattered her with his praise. I guess she had never had a Pokémon flatter her, or even flatter her the way that Victini did. It didn't take long for Victini's flattery to sink in as she seemed to like the praise from my silly little buddy. She was about to wrap up Victini in a hug when her Pikachu went on the offensive. Mikki's Pikachu had used his Iron Tail swat Victini away from Mikki.

'_I dunno what you expect from her, but keep your hands off Mikki,_' Mikki's Pikachu warned Victini sternly. '_She's taken already and I seriously doubt she'd be into you._'

'O'fer...' Victini said as he rubbed the back of his head as he looked to Mikki's Pikachu. 'I am not trying to ask your trainer out on a date. I just wanted a little affection and attention.'

Mikki then grinned as she picked Victini up off the ground and gently hugged him as she said, "And you'll get the attention and affection you want. But my Pikachu is right, I am taken already."

'Luckily for you, I already have a mate,' Victini informed Mikki with a grin. 'I'm just enjoying a week long hall pass before she returns from Tsunami Island.'

"Well... in that case, little cutie," began Mikki as she pulled Victini close to her, "I'll help you enjoy that week long hall pass."

Mikki then gave Victini a peck kiss on his forehead, making him blush. I just had a blank expression on my face as I watched Mikki showering Victini with affection and attention. I just hoped that Victini had enjoyed the affection and attention because that morning, his mate was returning from Tsunami Island to rejoin the party in place of Relena's Pokémon, a shiny Espeon named Emerald. I was always wondering how Relena was able to get a lot of shiny Pokémon and I had asked once before. She had told me that her home region teemed with shiny Pokémon and they weren't as rare in her home region as in the other regions.

"Oh man," moaned Bianca as she was defeated by the Nimbasa City gym leader, Elesa. "I couldn't even knock out one of her Pokémon."

"Then maybe you need to train a little more," offered Relena as she was getting ready to participate in the fashion show as well, at Jessica's request. "You can't always rely on luck and I've begun to notice that."

"Hey Relena, we're up next before May and Hilda have their gym battle," Mikki called to Relena as she got into her first outfit.

"Sure thing Mikki," acknowledged Relena as she put on her first outfit.

Hilda and I were in awe of Relena's first outfit. Her first outfit was based on shiny Mega Gardevoir with a black ballroom gown with teal blue trimming and gloves, a sapphire orange gemstone necklace around her neck and white strapped sandals on her feet. Mikki had on what looked to be like a ballerina's outfit in colors and form of the evolution of Ducklett, Swanna.

'Does the lovely ballerina need a partner to twirl and dance with?' Victini asked Mikki with a grin on his face.

Before Mikki could answer him, his mate showed up and threw a lasso at him. The rope snagged Victini and he was all of a sudden being pulled away from Mikki. With a startled look on his face, my silly little buddy was starting to get reeled away from Mikki. Victini tried so hard to keep from getting pulled away from Mikki as she hadn't answered his question yet. Mikki herself had a startled look on her face at first then startled giggling as she saw Victini's mate Katsumi pulling him away. She found Katsumi reeling her mate to him quite funny. Also Mikki had never seen a female Victini looking like Katsumi before, as she had assumed that all of the Pokémon that were considered as 'legendary' had no gender.

"Wow, never thought I see a different color Victini," Mikki said in amazement.

'_Let alone that Victini aren't genderless like conventional wisdom stated,_' added Mikki's Pikachu in agreement.

'_Two minutes ladies,_' Argon said to Relena and Mikki as it was getting close to their time showcase their Pokémon related outfits.

'_This world never ceases to amaze me, Mikki,_' Mikki's Pikachu said to his trainer.

"You're referring to the shiny Tyranitar, right?" Mikki asked her Pikachu.

'_Oh yes,_' answered Mikki's Pikachu. '_That and he's into human fashion. Really, really bizarre for my tastes._'

'_Join the club,_' said my Emolga as she let herself out of her Dream Ball. '_That has to be the most bizarre thing I've ever seen or heard of in my known life._'

Needless to say, we were all surprised by the fact that Relena and Mikki were pitching in doing their part for the upcoming fashion show… then again in the case of Relena it made sense as her sister is Jessica and at the same time, I was more surprised by the fact that Relena and Mikki were rivals in some way almost to the point where they could get competitive, well I know it wouldn't cause too much of a hassle. Speaking of shiny, Jeanette told me that Ash is training his shiny Eevee and his newly caught Roggenrola while getting ready for his upcoming Gym Battle as I am quite curious on which Pokemon my fiancé would pick for his battle since his Gabite, Palpitoad, Torterra, Gliscor and Donphan were immune to Electric-Type attacks while Ivysaur, Ayame, Latias, Pikachu, Sceptile, Bayleef, Chespin, Tangela, Snivy and Swadloon were resistant to those kind of attacks then again knowing Elesa... She would have some hidden surprises of her own that we will soon find out.

At least I could plan out my strategy, especially as I wanted to spend some time with my Glaceon for a while since I wanted to at least train her a bit despite not using her for my match and was even surprised to see Jeanette with a female Eevee Evolution of her own… a shiny female Flareon that she tends to keep company when needed, still it was pretty cool to see both Flareon and my Glaceon getting along well as if they were like long-lost sisters. "Isn't that sweet…" said Jeanette with a smile on her face which I nodded my head in agreement as he last time I ever saw a Flareon was back in my travels in Hoenn.

"I never knew you were actually a Champion…" I decided to speak with the female trainer from Crimson City and standing next to her was her Whimsicott, she preferred to be out of her Luxury Ball and walk with her trainer much like Ash's Pikachu, Anna's Clefairy and even my Manaphy and Victini which was for the best as it helps us to bond with our Pokemon better. Now that I think of it, Anna and I were shocked to discover Clefairy is a Fairy-Type Pokemon herself which would be a huge help against future opponents. "How long have you had that title?"

"It's a long story, but you could say I won a Pokemon League Tournament in the Johto Region" answered Jeanette with a sincere smile, which I was at a loss of words and I had at first suspected it was the same Johto League tournament that Ash lost in, especially to Harrison and his Blaziken which I never knew at first that they were from the Hoenn region, then again it made sense due to the fact that he used a Kecleon against my fiancé in the quarter finals of the tournament. "To be honest, I had never guessed Ash would participate in it too."

"Me neither…" I added, reflecting on when Max and I watched the Johto League Silver Conference back at home, at least before I decided to go to Littleroot Town to begin my journey as a Pokemon Trainer but that was when I didn't really like Pokemon. "Still, at least he has improved a lot since the Indigo League wouldn't you say?"

Jeanette nodded her head, smiling back at me. "I'll say, especially with winning the Sinnoh League, the Orange League and the Battle Frontier…. There was even one in Johto that I was able to conquer myself" she said, which I was somewhat caught-off guard by that and even more so as there was another Battle Frontier that neither Ash nor myself were aware of, though knowing Ashy… he'd jump at the chance at taking it on sometime after the Unova League is concluded. "Yeah, also I never saw Ash at the Johto League before you say anything else… it was actually a previous Johto League that I participated in during my travels around the world."

"Oh… okay, thanks for clearing it up" I replied back, glad that my friend was able to clear it up before I could ask such a question and it was then that I turned to take a quick glance at Victini, Manaphy and Meloetta…. The three of them really do get along with each other though Meloetta is Ash's Pokemon, both Manaphy and Victini see her as family as well, the same could be said for my Glaceon and Jeanette's shiny Flareon…. Now that I think of it, Ash's Wartortle and the Squirtle Squad were like brothers themselves plus I'm sure the Squad would want to cheer Ash on, even if he wasn't going to use Wartortle in the Gym Battle "In any case, maybe I might try to catch my own Fairy-Type at some point, perhaps after I have my match."

"Oh?" asked Jeanette, giving a sly smile as she was curious to know why I am suddenly interested in searching for a Fairy-Type despite them not being very common in the Unova Region. "What made you decide on that?"

I thought about it for a moment, especially as ever since we first met with Relena's sister Jessica back at Castellia City before the Pokemon Contest that Hilda won and there was a part of me that wished to catch myself a Fairy-Type to help in case I face a Dragon-Type again. "You could say this is a preference of mine" I replied, giving a small shrug and to be honest, it might be good if I could catch a Cottonee, a Ralts, a Mawile or even my own Sylveon even if they are not shiny. "Also what worries me is that Harley has Wigglytuff and…."

"You don't have to worry about that, you could say I kinda stripped him of that Pokemon and from the way it looked… Wigglytuff didn't want to have to deal with him any longer ever since the battle with Hilda at the Pinwheel Forest" reassured Jeanette, revealing that Harley's Wigglytuff abandoned her own trainer and ended up in Jeanette's care ever since Hilda and Cobalion were able to beat him, even if he didn't send out his Ariados or Banette in the battle. "Plus she seems happier with my mom back at home anyway."

"Well that is good news…" I smiled brightly, having never known that Wigglytuff isn't all that bad to begin with but am glad she would be better treated with Jeanette's mother at Crimson City than she ever would that purple-haired creep, as if hearing about Paul from Ash wasn't enough of a headache either upon learning how his rival from Sinnoh abused his Pokemon, especially with harsh training and Chimchar was among the victims before he not only became Ash's Pokemon but also a powerful Infernape to boot. However, it wouldn't be long before I noticed there was a necklace around Jeanette's neck and from what I can tell… the gem in the center of it resembled that of the one from Relena's black bracelet which now I knew was a Mega Ring. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Oh this?" she asked me, a bit confused at first before looking at the necklace she was wearing then gave a bright smile. "That's my Mega Charm, my mother gave it to me when I was little… saying it would bring me good luck in my journey but I was a bit surprised when during one battle, I found out what its real purpose was."

I nodded my head; especially as I remember clearly… the Keystone from Relena's Mega Ring can induce Mega Evolution should the compatible Pokemon hold the appropriate Mega Stone during a battle itself and I realized that Jeanette's Mega Charm may have the same capabilities. "Come to think of it, the first time I've ever seen it glow was during a battle that my Mawile and I were in against a powerful Haxorous… It had nearly knocked Mawile out until my Charm and the Mawilite she was holding allowed her to become Mega Mawile" she continued, remembering the fateful day that she fought a seemingly unstoppable opponent and was shocked when her Mawile become Mega Mawile to save her from a devastating Incinerate attack. "Guess you could say I was scared when I saw this happen but at the same time was happy that it did."

I didn't know what to say to Jeanette, especially having fought a Pokemon that nearly killed her during a battle which begged the question if this Haxorous was a wild Pokemon or one belonging to a very powerful and wicked trainer. "Well in any case, I'm just glad that you were able to survive it" I told her with a reassuring smile which she simply returned without hesitation.

"Yeah, I mean aside from the Pokemon that Richie and Relena mentioned, there were other Pokemon with the ability to Mega Evolve" explained Jeanette, which made me rather interested to know about this. "Among the mention are Pokemon such as Altaria, Slowbro, Sableye, Sharpedo, Camerupt, Audino, Loppuny. Salamance, Metagross and Gallade…. However there were two Pokemon who could actually go through a complete de-evolution as you could say… known as Primal Reversion."

"Primal Reversion?" I asked, wondering what the elegant trainer from my fiancé's home region was talking about at first as I always thought that evolution was a permanent transformation for all Pokemon capable of doing so while Mega Evolution is the only temporarily kind of Evolution as I was pretty sure Pokemon couldn't de-evolve at all. "Okay, you lost me at the part where you said this was a de-evolution process."

"Well if you put it that way… You know the two Legendary Pokemon from the Hoenn region… you know Groudon and Kyogre?" asked Jeanette, giving a smirk on her face as I started remembering the two Legendary Pokemon that created the Hoenn Region long ago and I silently nodded my head to confirm that I was familiar with them. "Well as it turns out, I did some research during my travels and discovered that they have hidden Primal Reversions, with Groudon's turning it into a Ground/Fire-Type and actually makes both it and its rival Kyogre even stronger rather than weaker, with their respective abilities being upgraded into stronger versions which makes them even more dangerous in a battle…. Groudon's ability Drought becomes Desolate Land and Kyogre's ability Drizzle becomes Primordial Sea both of which prevent other weathers from activating should either Primal Form's ability is in effect… Also should one ever use a Water-Type Pokemon against Primal Groudon, Desolate Land would make their Water-Type attacks useless and vice-versa if a Fire-Type Pokemon is used to try and face Primal Kyogre when its Primordial Sea ability is active."

My eyes widened in complete shock at hearing what Jeanette told me, I had no idea that the Primal Reversions for both Groudon and Kyogre would be that more deadly than their regular forms while I was glad it never happened when Maxie and Archie initially freed both ancient Legendary Pokemon in the Hoenn Region and took out our Pokédexes to find out a bit more on the two Pokemon in question just to be on the safe side.

_Kyogre, the Sea Basin Pokemon_ chirped Dexette. _A mythical Pokemon said to have swelled the sea with rain and tidal waves. It battled with Groudon._

_Groudon, the Continent Pokemon_ said Jeanette's Pokédex, reciting Groudon's data. _Said to have expanded the lands by evaporating water with raging heat. It battled titanically with Kyogre._

We were both silent at this, guess it could explain how Groudon and Kyogre battled for so long without gaining the upper hand on the other and if their Primal Forms' respective abilities were as dangerous as Jeanette said they were then it makes me really glad that Ash and I never saw those reversions during our Hoenn travels."You know…. I just realized, there was a third Legendary Pokemon that somehow put a stop to the fighting between Groudon and Kyogre…" she finally spoke, catching my attention again as I wanted to hear what she had to say. "Legends have it that it was part of the Weather Trio along with Groudon and Kyogre… Groudon controlled the landmass, Kyogre controlled the sea but one controlled both Pokemon…. What was it called?"

Jeanette tried to think of what the Pokemon was that served as Groudon's and Kyogre's master, initially I thought the Red Orb and the Blue Orb were connected to them but now I am rather shocked by the fact that there was a Pokemon from Hoenn even stronger than Groudon and Kyogre. "Now I remember… that Pokemon was none other than Rayquaza."

My eyes widened in shock, especially upon hearing Rayquaza's name. "What?! Rayquaza controls both Groudon and Kyogre?!" I asked, looking up the familiar Legendary Dragon/Flying-Type in Dexette just to make sure it wasn't all made up.

_Rayquaza, the Sky High Pokemon_ said Dexette, I was shocked at the fact there Rayquaza actually had its own history with Groudon and Kyogre since we only ever encountered the Legendary Dragon/Flying-Type when the conflicts with the four forms of Deoxys was taking place. _It lives in the ozone layer far above the clouds and cannot be seen from the ground._

"Hold on, you know about Rayquaza?" wondered Jeanette, a bit confused by the fact I was familiar with Rayquaza itself while I only nodded my head to answer her question while giving a small sigh to confirm it is true.

"Yeah, it's a long story too…" I explained, especially as out of all of us in the group… Ash and I were the only ones to ever encounter Rayquaza, before seeing Groudon and Kyogre since there were events that caused Rayquaza to show up in Hoenn prior since it had something to do with the four Deoxys that have also appeared at the time and it was something that I couldn't forget even to this very day. I was just glad that Manaphy didn't have to see that event himself and more so as I never met my child until my travels with Ash in Kanto when he was taking on the Battle Frontier while I took on the Kanto Contests and its Grand Festival.

"I gotta say, I think the audience loved your Swanna outfit," Relena said to Mikki as they came back from being on the gym's runway.

"They liked your Mega Gardevoir outfit too," agreed Mikki as both of them were changing outfits, "but you could've shown Michiru in mega evolved form along with the outfit. You know, maybe show they could've seen the real thing along with the outfit."

"I can't risk it," replied Relena as she changed out of her Mega Gardevoir outfit to her next outfit. "I don't wanna risk Team Plasma seeing that Michiru can mega evolve and Team Rocket is still looming about."

"I can't believe that Team Rocket is still around," Mikki said as she put on her next outfit, an outfit made too look like her Pikachu. "I thought that Anna Ketchum took them down after they left Saffron City."

"No, Giovanni still has ways to keep Team Rocket operational through his legitimate business fronts," replied Relena as she put on white kimono with ice blue trimming on the sleeves, a purple amethyst choker on her neck, a pinkish purple tinted ribbon around her waist and put her white laced sandals back on her feet before letting her Froslass, Kagura, out.

Mikki seemed to be impressed with both the outfit and Kagura. For Mikki's Pikachu outfit, it was pretty much a yellow dress, hugging her every curves, a ruby necklace around her neck and two inch yellow pumps with black streaks. I really had to give Relena's sister credit, she really knew her stuff and I could see why she was considered as a top fashion designer. I noticed that even Ash's Pikachu wanted to to be part of the fashion show too and join Mikki. Mikki and her Pikachu happily agreed and let my fiancé's Pikachu join them.

The crowd at the Nimbasa gym were certainly eager to see more beautifully designed outfits especially after seeing Relena's Suicune outfit. Her Suicune outfit was an ocean blue gown with a white diamond pattern, a deep purple amethyst gemstone on a white ribbon necklace, a white gold tiara with a princess cut deep blue aquamarine gemstone set on the tiara and cerulean blue laced sandals on her feet. Add in the fact that Aurora was at her side added to the fact the audience really loved her outfit. Relena's Pokémon even made an elegant presentation of her Suicune outfit by advancing in front of the entrance and then allowed Aurora to gracefully enter on the stage with his adopted daughter on his back and gently letting her dismount him.

Once Relena had left the stage, my silly little buddy was eager to get Relena to take a selfie with him in it. Both Katsumi and I tried to persuade Relena not to do it, but she complied with his request. He then was quick to ready himself for our portion of the fashion show/gym battle. Instead of Hilda and I taking on Elesa together in a two-on-two battle, Elesa was gonna face us individually. Hilda was going to go after me and my two Pokémon and one loaner Pokémon were all ready for battle. I was kinda worried with bringing Manaphy into the gym battle because he was a Water-Type Pokémon and the people were going to ridicule me for bringing my little Manaphy into this particular gym battle. But before the gym battle between Elesa and I could start, Elesa took to the stage and modeled some of her clothing line and a few outfits that Jessica had designed as well. Victini... [sigh] decided it was a good idea to approach Elesa and started to feed her an interesting pick up line.

'Excuse me,' began Victini as he kissed her left hand, 'but I was wondering if you'd like to have a certain cute and furry little Pokémon as a fashion accessory and maybe take a... YEOW!'

Victini felt sharp pain as he was hit with a Brick Break on his left hip and his eyes went wide as his mate made herself visible for everyone to see as she wasn't happy. Seeing this, some of the photographers were taking multiple photos as they saw Victini trying to woo Elesa into not only giving him affection and attention, but also to let him be part of her fashion show.

Katsumi looked to the photographers and said to them, '_Maybe you should post that on Twitter and put on the end of it #Victiniphotobomb or #painfulphotobomb._'

Once Victini crashed to the floor, Katsumi was quick to grab her mate by his left ear and drag him off the runway. I think a lot of people there could see that the female, tan furred Victini was very upset with my silly little buddy.

'What's wrong with trying to be someone's fashion accessory?' Victini moaned in pain. 'Ow, my left ear! My poor left ear!'

Once Victini was off the runway, Elesa continued modeling her fashion lineup. I had to admit that Victini was right about Elesa, she was a knock out and had the beauty to back it up. But then again she wasn't the only one who could be a knock out, as I was intent on proving to her with not just my outfits, but with my Pokémon as well. I stepped forward as I was definitely ready to challenge Elesa for my Bolt Badge. And I had every intention of saving Manaphy for last or at least for dealing with her Emolga, as my Emolga had informed me that she had. Elesa looked to me with a smile on her face as she was ready to face me for the Bolt Badge.

"Alright Challenger May Haruka," Elesa said to me, "don't forget that you're not only battling for a Bolt Badge, but you're also showcasing outfits related to the Pokémon you're using in battle against me and my Pokémon. Good luck to you and your Pokémon."

I gave a slight nod to Elesa as I was certainly ready to face her. Elesa first showed her first Pokémon as Zebstrika. It was rather interesting to see that she would start with her strongest Pokémon first. I had expected her to use a smaller Pokémon or less experienced Pokémon first. I knew Manaphy wasn't the right choice to use and Victini was a little tied up with Katsumi at the moment, so all I had to call on was my loaner Pokémon, Anter of the Thunder Fang Tribe.

"Anter, take the stage!" I exclaimed as I threw his Safari Ball up in the air.

Once the shiny Gleam Eyes Pokémon was out of his Safari Ball, I went back and was quick to put on the shiny Luxray outfit. As I returned to the runway, Anter gave me a slight nod as he was ready to fight.

'_Just don't have me use my Electric-type attacks against this Pokémon,_' Anter informed me.

"Eh, why not?" I asked Anter in surprise.

'_Because this Electric-type has the Lightningrod ability much like my companion, Sparky, has,_' answered Anter. '_Perhaps Victini would've been better suited for this fight._'

"Unfortunately Victini is getting scolded by Katsumi right now," I explained to Anter.

Anter just let out a sigh as the ref signaled the start of the gym battle. Elesa sure didn't waste time going on the offensive as she ordered her Zebstrika to use Flame Charge on Anter. Anter didn't even need a command as he stood his ground and readied a Ground-Type attack that I wasn't expecting to see. I was ready to give Anter a command, but it seemed as if he was taking charge himself and didn't need me to issue commands. But I still needed to issue some commands, even if Anter didn't like the idea.

"Alright Anter, use Mud Slap," I ordered the shiny Gleam Eyes Pokémon.

Anter looked back to me as if to ask what I was doing. All I did was glance at him as if to say, 'just go with it.' The shiny male Gleam Eyes gave slight nod in agreement to follow along and he complied, using the Ground-Type attack right as Zebstrika was about to close the gap. Both Elesa and Zebstrika were completely caught off guard by the Mud Slap attack from Anter. The mud canceled out Zebstrika's Flame Charge and was in his eyes, blinding him temporarily. Seeing this Anter and I moved to take advantage.

"Anter, use Crunch!" I said to the Sinnoh Electric-type Pokémon.

'_Exactly what I was thinking,_' replied Anter as he charged in at Zebstrika and scored a critical hit on the Unova Electric-type Pokémon.

Zebstrika cried out in pain as Anter connected with the Dark-type attack and we both noticed a slight dark blue outline run down Zebstrika's body. Anter, being an experienced veteran battler knew what that meant for us.

'_Human, Zebstrika's defense has been lowered by my Crunch,_' Anter informed me. '_Let us take advantage of this development and press it hard._'

"Alright then, use Night Slash," I ordered Anter.

'_Good thinking, Human,_' Anter said as he charged with another Dark-type physical attack.

"Use Quick Attack, Zebstrika," countered Elesa.

The Unova Thunderbolt Pokémon complied and was able to inflict some damage, but not enough to cause any critical hits or cause any major damage. I was surprised that Relena's fiancé had trained Anter so well that he was able to shrug off the Quick Attack as nothing more than a light scratch. Anter did continue his Night Slash attack and knocked down the Thunderbolt Pokémon as it did critical damage like his Crunch attack did. Zebstrika fell in defeat with circles in his eyes and wasn't able to continue the fight.

'_Th-That's one hardcore Electric-type P-Pokémon,_' Zebstrika said weakly before completely passing out.

"Zebstrika is unable to battle," the female ref announced to the audience, "Luxray wins!"

The audience went truly excited about the first battle and of course how I looked in the shiny Luxray outfit the Jessica designed for me. Elesa recalled her fallen Zebstrika and then readied her next Pokémon for battle.

"Time for round two, let's go... Eelektrik!" exclaimed Elesa as she released her next Pokémon.

Her next Pokémon was blue-black Pokémon with a beige underbelly, yellow spots and circular pattern around it's eyes, red lips and teeth that were just as razor-sharp as a Sharpedo's teeth were. I was certainly unfamiliar with that Pokémon and was about to pull out my Pokédex when Anter spoke up.

'_The Pokémon you see before you is known as Eelektrik, the EelFish Pokémon,_' began Anter. '_It is an Electric-type Pokémon like myself and has the ability Levitate._'

"How do you know about that Pokémon?" I asked Anter.

'_How do you think my tribe became known as the Thunder Fang Tribe?_' Anter asked me as his answer. '_We are a proud tribe of Electric-type Pokémon. Lady Jessica owns a shiny evolved form of the Pokémon you see before you known as Eelektross. Such Pokémon like Eelektrik, it's pre-evolved form Tynamo and Eelektross are part of the Thunder Fang Tribe._'

I was about to use Anter again when Victini arrived just in time. He got out of the grasp of his mate, yet I noticed a few rope indentations around his waist. From the look on his face, he was glad to get away from Katsumi.

'I hate being abused like that,' Victini said to me and Anter.

'_I would not say that your mate abuses you,_' Anter said to Victini. '_She is just concerned that you'll pursue human females and not be true to her._'

'Katsumi is my love and I will always be true to her,' explained Victini. 'But there's nothing wrong with asking for attention and affection from other females.

'Katsumi wants me to mate and breed with her and I intend to mate and breed with my love,' finished Victini.

'_I did not need to know that,_' said Anter as he looked at Victini. '_I assume that you are fit for battle against Elesa's next Pokémon, am I correct?_'

'Yeah, I'm ready to go,' answered Victini.

'_Then my commitment to battle alongside you is now complete,_' Anter informed me. '_But should you require my assistance, I shall be nearby with my human._'

I gave Anter a slight nod before he padded back to Richie. I then quickly changed into my next outfit, which was the outfit made to look like my silly little buddy Victini. Victini was certainly pleased to see the outfit Jessica made for me. With a grin on his face, Victini he gave me two thumbs up in approval of the Victini outfit. I happily gave Victini a slight nod in agreement as I liked the outfit too. As we got ready to step back onto the runway, I looked to my silly little buddy with a look of concern. Knowing that Victini had the power to grant victory to allies, I was worried that maybe he would try to use it on himself against Eelektrik. Victini gave me a reassuring wink and said, 'I may be known as the Victory Pokémon, but I am certainly not a cheater and I won't use my own power of granting victory on myself.'

Hearing that was a huge relief to me as I was glad to know that Victini would fight fair, though I think that Katsumi would have given him an earful if he did try to use his power on himself. Once Victini reassured me that he was going to fight fair, both of us reentered the runway and strutted my stuff with Victini showing off his charming appeal. A lot of the ladies there were going nuts and shouting that they loved him. I had to keep calm as Victini let all of the praise he was getting go to his head.

'Thank you to all of you lovely and gorgeous ladies,' Victini said to all of the ladies who praised him.

"The second match between Victini and Eelektrik will now begin," announced the female referee.

"Alright Eelektrik, use Crunch on Victini!" exclaimed Elesa.

The EelFish Pokémon complied with it's trainer and slithered towards Victini with its jaws open wide. Victini just rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. It seemed to me like Victini was being a bit too cocky. I was about to give Victini an instruction when he made the first move against Eelektrik. The Unova Electric-type EelFish Pokémon still had its jaws wide open when Victini shot a Flamethrower attack into the jaws of Eelektrik. Eelektrik widened its eyes in shock as Victini's Flamethrower entered the mouth of the Electric-type Pokémon. Once the Fire-type attack was done, Eelektrik reeled back and was coughing out smoke and a few tiny flames that remained.

'(C_ough_) _That was a dirty trick, _(cough) _little Fire-type,_' snarled Eelektrik as it was still coughing out smoke and flames.

'That was a spicy meatball,' Victini replied with his best telepathic Italian accent and acted as if he had created the best Italian dish ever.

'_Well, I want my money back!_' exclaimed Eelektrik as she lunged forward and caught Victini off guard as he connected with the Crunch attack he was ordered to use.

Victini didn't like that Eelektrik was able to connect with the Dark-type physical attack. He was just thankful that his physical defense hadn't been lowered by the Crunch attack. Victini had cried out in pain at the surprise counterattack as he hadn't expected Eelektrik to recover and strike back so quickly.

"Alright Eelektrik, use your Thunderbolt attack!" exclaimed Elesa.

'You're beautiful, Elesa, but you're not beating me,' Victini said calmly. 'Time for me to strike back.'

"Victini... Dazzling Gleam!" I exclaimed with my youthful energy.

'Now we're talking, May,' Victini said in agreement.

Victini used the Fairy-type attack eagerly as he wanted to get back at Eelektrik for the Crunch attack he used on Victini. The Fairy-type attack tore right through Eelektrik's Thunderbolt attack and striking the evolved form of Tynamo and causing critical damage to him. Seeing this caused a some gasps in shock and awe. I'm pretty certain that even Ash was surprised to see that Dazzling Gleam cased so much damage to Elesa's Eelektrik. I know that I was certainly surprised to see it for myself.

"Victini, what happened?" I asked my silly little buddy. "You didn't use your..."

'No, I didn't use my power on myself,' Victini answered before I could ask him if he used his secret power. 'You see when Pokémon and trainer have an extremely strong bond with each other, the Pokémon has a much greater chance of inflicting critical damage.'

'_That w-was t-too powerful,_' Eelektrik said weakly before falling down in defeat with circles in her eyes.

"Eelektrik is unable to battle," announced the referee. "Victini wins!"

Once the ref announced that Victini won all of the pretty girls, that Victini charmed, screamed loud at the top of their lungs. Victini acted like an actor and even blew kisses to the girls. Even Katsumi didn't like seeing Victini acting like he was a big shot actor. Oh well, I had told myself in my mind as I figured that Victini would always be a strong part of my team. I then pulled Victini by his left ear and pulled him back to my side as Elesa recalled her fallen Eelektrik back to her Pokéball. She looked at me with a gentle smile as she seemed to be enjoying the gym battle as well as seeing the different fashion that Relena, Mikki and I had been showcasing for everyone here in the Nimbasa City gym. Hilda was up next after me, but I wondered if she was pushing her Pokémon a bit too hard.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I saw her last Pokémon come out and it was an Emolga just like mine. Seeing that it didn't come from a Dream Ball like mine, Elesa's Emolga was obviously a normal Emolga and had a different ability. I was quick to see what ability Emolga had if it didn't originate from the Dream World. The Pokédex revealed that it's ability was Static, much like Pikachu's ability was Static. For this final round, I decided to use Manaphy. The audience saw me walking back to the changing room and wondered which Pokémon I was going to use next. As I entered the changing room, Manaphy woke up to see me enter and get ready to change into the Manaphy outfit I had made for the Castellia City contest.

'_Is it my turn go out, Mama?_' Manaphy asked me happily.

"Yes, it's your turn," I answered Manaphy happily as I put on the Manaphy outfit.

It didn't take long for me to put on my Manaphy outfit and for Manaphy to climb on my shoulder left shoulder. Both of us went out to finish our fashion show/gym battle and finish it with style. Once the audience saw that Manaphy was my final Pokémon to use, some of them questioned wither or not I was even thinking as it seemed that they were only thinking in terms of type advantage. Manaphy and I were determined to prove that type advantage wasn't always right.

"Manaphy... take the stage!" I exclaimed as my 'son' leapt off my shoulder and took his fighting stance.

"So you're sending a Water-type Pokémon to battle?" Elesa asked me as she seemed interested in my selection of Manaphy. "This should prove to be interesting."

Elesa was quick to start the final round by having her Emolga use her Thunder Wave attack to paralyze Manaphy and was quick to try and get the upper-hand. Manaphy had a hard time with his aim as he was paralyzed. But I noticed something unusual with Manaphy as he was trying to battle with Elesa's Emolga. Once Elesa called out her fourth attack on Manaphy, it was then that Manaphy somehow broke free of his paralysis much to the shock and surprise of many people watching the final round.

"But how? How did that happen?" asked Mikki as she watched from the side.

'It's quite easy, my dear,' answered Victini. 'Just like a Pokémon being able to inflict critical damage when they have a strong bond with their humans, when a Pokémon has a strong bond with their human they sometimes can get out of certain problems.'

'_Problems like being poisoned, burned, confusion, awaking from sleep and healing itself from paralysis as little Manaphy has done through sheer force of will,_' added Anter.

"Alright Manaphy, finish strong with a new combo," I told Manaphy. "Dazzling Gleam and Ice Beam!"

'_Alright!_' Manaphy exclaimed happily.

Then Manaphy unleashed his favorite Fairy-type attack and quickly blinded Elesa's Emolga and then aimed his Ice Beam attack right on target as the Ice-type attack did super effective damage on the Electric/Flying-type Pokémon. The Sky Squirrel Pokémon was certainly surprised and had a stunned look on her face as she was frozen solid with the dazed look of defeat.

"Emolga is unable to battle," announced the referee. "Manaphy wins! And winner of this gym battle is May Haruka of Petalberg City."

The crowd erupted into loud cheering frenzy as I had beaten Elesa and her Pokémon, no problem at all. Anter and Victini came back to my side as some of the photographers there wanted a picture of me and the three Pokémon I used to defeat Elesa's Pokémon with. After the brief photo shoot, Elesa announced the next opponent was Hilda and that she would be ready for her in a few hours. She had also said that another model had come to showcase more of Jessica's Pokémon outfits. I was confused as to who Jessica had "hired" this time. Much to mine and Relena's shock, it was our friend from the Oblivia region, Abelia. I wondered if Jessica had been a bit too forceful in asking Abelia to work for her. At any rate, I was really impressed with Abelia's outfit that she had on and the Pokémon next to her. I pulled out my Pokédex and aimed it at the six-winged Bug-type Pokémon.

'Volcarona, the Sun Pokémon and the evolved form of Larvesta,' reported my Pokédex. 'Volcarona is said to have acted as a replacement for the sun by using its fire, when volcanic ash darkened the atmosphere. This Pokémon is a Bug/Fire-type Pokémon from the Unova region.'

"Oh my," I said as I looked at Abelia's outfit.

Her outfit certainly matched her Pokémon. She had on white sleeveless shirt with red wings on the back and her midriff showing, light blue skirt, a white gold tiara on her forehead with a deep red princess cut ruby set on the tiara, red bracelets on her wrists and ankles, her silver hair was let down and not in the usual pigtails and as always she had no footwear on her feet. I noticed that Abelia looked a bit apprehensive and nervous about coming to the fashion show. But if I had to make a guess, I'd say that her boyfriend, Jonathan, talked her into doing it or Jessica Kaiou had promised her something that got her to agree to being one of her models. After taking a deep breath and calming herself down Abelia then silently strode down the runway with her Volcarona accompanying her. The fashion photographers there certainly must've been drawn to Abelia's outfit as there were a lot of cameras flashing as Abelia and Volcarona came down the runway and twirled a bit, showing off the outfit. I could see Jonathan giving a grin as he liked seeing Abelia stride up and down the runway. Victini seemed to like Abelia's outfit too as a big grin formed on his face.

"Wait, you two are engaged to each other?" I asked Abelia and Jonathan in surprise.

"Yes," answered Abelia. "We just never mentioned that back at Eindoak Town or in Castellia City."

"Well, sounds like you two make a great couple," Erika said to both Jonathan and Abelia.

"Yeah," agreed Abelia. "We were kinda hoping that we'd get married in the Atlantica Islands when we got there."

"Don't worry, we'll get all of the arrangements taken care of," Relena assured Abelia. "Knowing Jessica, she'll be pulling all the stops to make you a wedding dress and make you look ravishing."

Abelia gave a slight grin and a nod in agreement. If both of them knew one thing, it was that our employer was crazy, yet knew what she was doing. I noticed that Relena hadn't taken off her Suicune outfit and Victini was certainly trying to get more attention from Relena. Thankfully, she steered him back towards his mate, who needed more attention and affection than any of us girls. I really liked both Relena and Abelia's outfits and thought that both outfits defined who both of them were.

"By the way, Relena…" Abelia said, talking to her friend. "Can I ask you something? Wouldn't you like to try wearing something that shows your midriff?" She glanced down at her shirt, which was tied up in front of her so that her bellybutton and a part of her tummy could be seen.

Relena chuckled nervously. I knew that Relena was rather conservative in her choice of clothing, and what Abelia suggested wasn't exactly something she cared much for. "Actually, Abelia, I'm not sure I like that. Doesn't it make me look like… well, someone who is a little too quick to give their love away?"

Abelia did a short laugh, which was pretty rare for her to do. "Actually, Relena, a lot of girls my age dress like that, and nobody thinks any less of them." She answered. "Besides… don't you think this makes a girl more appealing, in a way?"

Relena blinked in slight confusion. "I'm not sure I follow your train of thoughts…" she answered.

"Okay, okay… I'll explain what I mean." Abelia answered back. "Basically… well, showing your stomach can give you a bit more of sex appeal, since your boyfriend does get to see some skin, but not too much of it. See, that makes a girl more attractive in her guy's eyes. Plus, well… it makes a girl look more of a free spirit, you know what I'm saying? It's not in any way dirty or scandalous, it feels nice to feel the wind and the sun on your stomach and… well, Jonathan says I look cute that way!"

Jonathan blushed noticeably and glanced aside, trying to look inconspicuous, while Relena giggled politely to herself. "You know, Abelia, I think you might have a point about that." She commented. "Well, I might actually give it a try someday."

"I was waiting for you to say that... my precious," said a very familiar voice in a menacing voice.

Both Relena and Abelia turned around slowly and saw that Relena's fashion designer sister, Jessica, was standing right there and had a dark aura behind her. For the first time in my life, I actually saw Relena being terrified at the sight of her sister. With an evil grin and slowly reaching out towards her baby sister, Jessica slowly advanced towards Relena as she cackled evilly. Even Argon and Asami advanced with Jessica slowly and behind her.

"N-Now Jess, d-don't look at me like that," Relena stammered as she started to back away slowly before turning to try and run. "H-HELP!"

As Relena turned to run, Asami was quick to dart forward and catch her with her ribbon-like feelers. Jessica continued to cackle as Argon stepped forward to collect Relena from his Fairy-type business partner. If there was one feeling to describe Relena at that moment when Jessica's shiny Tyranitar collected Relena for Jessica, it was terror. Argon brought Relena to Jessica as she held her hands out towards her baby sister.

"Now then... my precious baby sister," began Jessica as her evil cackling died down, "don't try to run from me. You'll only make things harder for yourself. MWA HA HA HA HA!"

The only thing Elesa and the audience could hear from backstage was Jessica's cackling and Relena's piercing scream of terror as her sister took her away from the gym. Abelia, Mikki and I each had a sweatdrop on our forehead as we watched Relena being carried away by Argon, following Jessica. Once Relena had left the gym on the left shoulder of Jessica's shiny Tyranitar, things settled down... a little bit. Mikki then noticed Abelia and went towards her.

"I take it you're a friend of Relena too," Mikki said to Abelia. "You're really lucky to know her."

"Seems a lot of people are lucky to know Relena," Abelia said to Mikki as she looked to carmine red-haired girl. "I'm Abelia Granger from the Oblivia region."

"Mikki Shiozaki, from Celadon City in the Kanto region," replied Mikki. "But I was born in Azalea Town in the Johto region.

"But I have to ask you," continued Mikki. "How did you meet Relena and Richie?"

"We met them when they were in the Hoenn region," began Abelia. "We had a couple of other friends back in the Oblivia region who needed help in dealing with an ancient evil."

Jonathan had entered the room and continued where Abelia had left off, "Unfortunately, the evil that our friends were facing was a bit too powerful for them to deal with and even we couldn't help them much. So our friends told us leave Oblivia and see if Abi and I could find someone who could help us deal with the King of Pokélantis."

"Pokélantis, wasn't that the home of some mythical evil king?" Mikki asked Abelia and Jonathan.

"Yes," answered Abelia. "Once we went to Hoenn, we tried to find someone, anyone who could help us deal with the King of Pokélantis, but almost all of those we spoke to just laughed at us and said that the King of Pokélantis was just a myth and blew us off."

"I take it Relena and her boyfriend weren't like those other people," Mikki assumed as she was listening to Abelia and Jonathan's story.

"No, those two have been arranged to be married for as long as we've known them," Jonathan replied to Mikki.

"Jonathan, they introduced themselves to us as boyfriend and girlfriend," corrected Abelia before looking to back to Mikki. "But yes, they did tell us that their mothers arranged for them get married to each other. And they agreed to help us and our friends deal with the King of Pokélantis."

"_No, no, no, no, no... NO!_" we heard Jessica shout back at the Pokémon Center as she was still working on assembling some new outfits for Relena.

"_But Jess..._" we heard Relena protest, "_I only said that I might consider giving it a try._"

"_Alright then, let's see your wardrobe,_" Jessica informed Relena as myself, Abelia and Mikki could hear the fashion designer going to town on her sister.

"_N-Not happening Jess,_" stammered Relena as she was apparently trying to stand up to Jessica.

"_Mwa ha ha ha ha ha! The longer you fight me, the more painful it'll be for you,_" responded Jessica as she was sounding more maniacal.

"I can't believe we work for her," Mikki said with a blank expression on her face.

"Well, we can't really complain," I replied to Mikki. "I mean we're getting a good pay to do modeling and free customized clothes."

"I'm with May, Mikki," agreed Abelia. "I like being able to save money on having to buy clothes."

"Plus you don't buy footwear unless it's absolutely necessary," added Jonathan as he and the others came back from the gym with Hilda proudly brandishing her Bolt Badge. "You three missed out on a great gym battle."

"_Okay, that dress goes away,_" Jessica said still cackling in an evil tone. "_So does that one... that one... and these dresses go too._"

"_But those were some of my favorite dresses,_" protested Relena.

"_Trust me, they're not tailored to grow with you and they're bound to be tight on you,_" Jessica countered back as she was going through Relena's wardrobe. "_You'll like the new look I have planned for you. Oh... your fiancé will want to put his hands all over you once he sees you in what I have planned for you._"

"_Um... okay,_" Relena replied nervously.

A few hours later, we saw that Relena was finally coming down from her room after spending most of the afternoon being tortured by her sister Jessica. She looked very nervous as she was a bit apprehensive about the outfit she was wearing. Misty had entered the Pokémon Center just as Erika and Ilex had entered as well. The three of them had gone in different directions. Erika and Ilex had gone outside the city back in direction of the desert on Route 4. Erika had wanted to train her new Grass-type Pokémon in the desert area where there were plenty of Ground-Type Pokémon for her Grass-type Pokémon to train against. When Erika and Ilex came back, she reported that her Skiddo had grown 6 levels, her Gourgeist had grown 5 levels and had been undergoing some form of Super Training at Join Avenue... actually, all of her Grass-type Pokémon were undergoing the Super Training at Join Avenue to raise their stats and that go me thinking if I should the same thing as well.

Looking to Relena, she finally came down the stairs still with the nervous look on her face. The new outfit that she had on was enough to surprise me, Abelia, Mikki and everyone else in the lobby who were traveling with us. Relena had on a cerulean blue tube top shirt held up by clear plastic straps with her midriff showing, an ocean blue skirt with a white diamond pattern, the deep purple amethyst gemstone set on a white ribbon necklace and cerulean blue laced sandals on her feet. Richie had just come from doing some training with his Pokémon and getting some pointers from Aurora, when both Richie and Aurora saw Relena in her new outfit. Relena was profusely blushing as she was still nervous and a bit afraid that both of them wouldn't like the new outfit. Richie was certainly speechless and had his eyes widened in surprise, marveling at how beautiful he though she looked. As for Aurora, he smirked as it seemed he liked what he saw.

'For a moment, I thought I had seen a female Suicune as a human being,' Aurora began jokingly, 'but it only appears to be my lovely and always beautiful daughter. I think it suits you.'

"R-Really Father?" Relena asked Aurora as she was still blushing. "Y-You like it?"

'If you wear it a little more often, I might become even more attached to you,' Aurora answered jokingly with a slight smile on his face.

Richie didn't need to say anything, because as soon as Aurora had finished speaking with Relena he was quick to approach his fiancée and scoop her up into his arms with a Cheshire grin on his face. As for Relena, she was very surprised that her fiancé just picked her up without so much as giving one compliment or even have a worried look on his face. From what I had seen, Richie was always worried that he'd upset Relena's surrogate father, Aurora, but that time wasn't the case. I think I even saw him blushing too.

"Relena, you're more beautiful than ever," Richie said to his fiancée. "No, I think your beauty has become as pure as the crystal clear ocean."

If Relena wasn't surprised then, she was at that moment. Even I was surprised to hear Richie say that; but I knew that the only way he'd make that compliment was if he had gone to Victini for advice or my silly little buddy had given him lessons on trying to charm the ladies.

"Y-You really think I'm beautiful?" stammered Relena as she looked to her fiancé.

"You're always beautiful, Relena," Richie answered with a grin before we heard a startling surprising yelp from Abelia.

'_Please don't struggle, Miss Granger,_' Argon informed Abelia as he rolled his eyes. '_Trust me, even I do not like this form of summoning you and rest of the models who work for us._'

"So how long has Abelia been up there with Jessica?" I asked my fellow models as Mikki looked to her Pokétch.

"I'd say she's been up there for almost the same amount of time Relena was up there with her sister," answered Mikki as she looked up from looking at her Pokétch. "About three hours or so."

Abelia then came down in a new outfit herself. She was also coming down with her shiny Genesect Pokémon too. Abelia's outfit had a spaghetti strap red tube top shirt with her midriff showing, a polished moonstone gem set on an orange ribbon choker, pink skirt and red bangle on her right arm with a pink tourmaline gemstone set on the red bangle. Both Jonathan and Mikki had stunned looks on their faces as they saw Abelia come down. For Mikki, I think it was the shiny Genesect that came down with Abelia that had her shocked. She pulled out her Pokédex and aimed it at Abelia's Genesect.

'Genesect, the Paleozoic Pokémon. This is a Bug/Steel-type Pokémon from the Unova region,' chirped Mikki's Pokédex. '300 million years ago, Genesect was the fiercest known predator. This Pokémon is thought to have been resurrected by the criminal syndicate Team Plasma, of the Unova region, and have given it upgrades such as a powerful cannon. This Pokémon's known signature move is known as Techno Blast.'

"Whoa," Mikki said in amazement. "Not a bad Pokémon you've got Abelia."

"Thank you, he was given to me by Relena and he chose to join me as well," replied Abelia.

'I only seek to destroy the humans who themselves Team Plasma,' the shiny Genesect said to Mikki. 'I felt that allying with this Bug Tamer would aid me in my quest.'

'Oh boy... hearing two Pokémon use Telepathy is one thing" Mikki said to her Pikachu. "Hearing three Pokémon use Telepathy, I think I may lose it."

Mikki's Pikachu sighed and rolled his eyes as he said, '_You're a hopeless case, Mikki. Go find a video phone and talk to your boyfriend, Steven._'

With all that happened during our stay in Nimbasa City, things were looking pretty well. Relena's sister, Jessica, had more outfits for us to model for her at the Nimbasa City Gym. Elesa certainly liked the outfits that we modeled. Another part of the fashion show was to model swimwear. We modeled some of Jessica's swimwear, while Relena and Abelia modeled the rest of it. Elesa also happened to have had some swimwear she had wanted to model and even asked us to model some of it. However, once Relena and Abelia saw what she had, they were quick to turn down the offer and modeled Jessica's swimwear. I should've known those were gonna turn down modeling bikinis, it was nothing new.

Once the two days of the Nimbasa Fashion Show were done, we prepared for Ash and Hilbert to face Elesa. Those two were going to be in quite a fight against her. And I'll save that for the next time.

Victini: '**Ladies, please leave reviews for the author. Tell him how much you love Unova's Pokémon chick magnet... Me! **' **^_^** [Being pulled by the left ear] '**Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Not my left ear again! Not my left ear again!**'

Katsumi: [pulling Victini away] '_You've had you're fun in the spotlight, now let's go so Sparky can finish up here._'

Author's note: And cut! I wanna thank deviantArt artist Miyuki-Tsukiyono for allowing me to use her OC Mikki Shiozaki in this fic. Special thanks to Lily Nadesico and EmperorDraco7 for contributing to the completion of this chapter... as well as dA artist Miyuki-Tsukiyono.


	23. Chapter 21

Thor: 'Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. He is just borrowing them for entertainment purposes. Nintendo, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company all own everything that is being borrowed for this fic.'

Victini: 'Why is everyone but me getting to the disclaimer?! It's supposed to be my job! Mine! No one else's job!'

May: Calm down Victini. You were never asked to do the disclaimer on an everyday basis.

Victini: 'But I want it to be my job!'

Me: You're doing fine in your role as comic relief and as a guide and translator. I never made you a permanent position of telling the disclaimer.

Victini: 'Oh fine. Take it away then.'

21: Female Domination and the Destruction of Team Rocket

"So Ash, do you want me to make you some outfits before I carry off your fiancée for some new outfits I have designed for her?" Jessica asked Ash, as I was alarmed by the last part of her question.

'_Jessica, you need to be using your cellphone instead of having me carry your employees off by force,_' Argon informed his trainer and business partner with a frustrated sigh. '_It's a wonder that they haven't quit yet. Besides, the longer we scare our employees, the more likely that they will quit and we will have do outsourcing... again._'

"Well, it seems that someone is on our side," Mikki said to Jessica with triumphant grin on her face.

'_I'm with my Rock/Dark-type associate on this one, Jess,_' agreed Asami. '_I like the idea of having our own employees instead of having contract outside modeling agencies or models who ruin your outfits right before their catwalk._'

"I take it times are tough for you guys," Relena guessed as Jessica facepalmed herself after Asami brought up the last incident.

Jessica sighed and gave her baby sister a slight nod answering her question and then explained, "This year has been really hard on us. We put our heart and soul into the outfits that we design and then we occasionally have a model or two that we hire conveniently get sick before they were supposed to walk on the catwalk and see that the outfits we make get ruined."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Abelia said to Jessica as we were sitting around, waiting for Ash and Hilbert's Pokémon to be healed after the two of them did some training in the same desert area that Erika went to.

The next day, most of us woke up in not such a pleasant mood as we couldn't sleep so much as a wink. The two former Rocket employees, it seemed as though they were following us and we had no clue as to why they were following us. However, the only thing that made our morning a little better was hearing the surprised startled screams coming from their room. But perhaps I should go back to what happened the night before.

_F__lashback-no-jutsu_

_The night before_

"Man that was an incredible gym battle you had, Hilda," Hilbert said to his girlfriend as she lovingly sat in his lap still wearing her Zekrom dress. "Guess maybe we were wrong to worry about Team Plasma."

"No, we still have to keep our guard up especially since Team Rocket and Team Plasma are still around," Hilda informed her lover. "But it seems like they're more interested in bashing each others heads in at a moment."

'Then maybe we should take advantage of that and possibly go on the offensive,' suggested Victini.

"I don't have my affairs in order just yet, Victini," Jonathan said to my silly little buddy. "I'd rather avoid fighting them altogether if I can."

"I'm with Jonathan, Victini," agreed Abelia. "I have a life that I want to live and getting in the middle of a battle between two criminal syndicates isn't going to help any bit."

"I wouldn't worry about Team Rocket," said a familiar voice as its owner came in from outside with his lover. "They're pretty much done for."

"Wait, it's... Taichi, right?" Ash asked the man who entered with his blonde-haired lover. "And... Domino, right?"

"You got it," answered Domino with a slight smile on her face.

"Well, you don't have to worry about Giovanni and Team Rocket anymore," Taichi had proudly announced. "That liar and his top fools are all dead."

"Wait, how did you get to Giovanni if he's heavily guarded and always on the move?" Relena asked Taichi.

"Does it matter?" Taichi shot back. "With Giovanni, his admins and top scientists dead, Team Rocket will destroy itself from in-fighting."

"How can you tell?" asked Anna, not sure that she and the others could trust the two older people in front of them. "Then would that mean the three Rocket members following my little brother and his friends won't be around anymore either?"

There was nothing but silence from Taichi at the mention of the Rocket Trio in question and before he could say anything… Domino was the next to speak. "I wouldn't worry about those losers, something worse than death might happen to them… you'll see" she replied, making us rather curious on what the two had in mind for the Rocket trio but then again…. they may do much worse than anything that Relena's older sister Jessica would be to us, just hope I didn't jinx things by thinking this.

End of Flashback

It wasn't till long before I heard a telepathic yelp in pain and I would be surprised when I saw a lovely Mawile along with a familiar shiny female Whimsicott with looks of displeasure on their faces as Victini was being dragged back to me by his ear. "Don't tell me, he flirted with your trainer didn't he?" I asked which the two Pokemon gave a nod especially as Victini's bottom had bite-marks then I glanced at Mawile before scanning her with Dexette.

_Mawile, the Deceiver Pokemon… Steel/Fairy-Type_ began Dexette, in its familiar electronic female voice. _Attached to its head is a huge set of jaws formed by horns. It can chew through iron beams._

'_This is what happens if you try to flirt with Mistress Jeanette!'_ snapped the female Steel/Fairy-Type giving my Victory Pokémon a warning but what truly amazed me is Mawile is a Steel/Fairy-Type which makes her not only immune to Dragon-Type moves but also Poison-Type ones as well. _'Next time, my Bite attack won't be going to your rear-end but towards something much lower.'_

Victini was about to protest when he felt a chill in the air and he turned to see Meloetta and Katsumi weren't happy with him either, especially as the female Victini mentioned having a serious talk with him in their room. _'Sorry about what Brother Victini flirting with your trainer again'_ began Manaphy from on my shoulder.

'_Don't worry about it, though I do have to wonder how he likes cute female trainers'_ commented Whimsicott, especially as she heard that a trainer who used to travel with me and Ash during Hoenn and the Battle Frontier had a similar tendency, which I could imagine how Brock would react if he had seen what my Fire/Psychic-Type could do to charm the ladies then again, Misty was having a new outfit designed by Jessica…. More so as Relena's older sister decided to torment Ash's former female companion from Kanto ever since that talk with those two former Team Rocket members, with Psyduck popping out of his Pokéball not helping matters.

Luckily it didn't take long before Misty was allowed out of the room accompanied by her Psyduck, it felt like an eternity passed before her but it was really a couple of hours and I noticed the outfit that the orange-haired Water-Type trainer was wearing. It was a white and light blue t-shirt, dark blue denim shorts and a pair of white sandals with yellow frills on them to complete the new look, as expected Misty's new outfit exposed her midriff and was the front of the shirt was tied to show her curved stomach. "So how do I look?" asked Misty, showing me and the others the designed outfit that Jessica made for her.

"Not bad, not bad at all… I'm sure Tracey would be amazed by your new look" I replied with a smile on my face, Misty did look truly stunning and sexy as well plus at the time she joined with us prior to when we arrived at Castellia City, we were all surprised to learn that Misty was dating Tracey… Even my fiancé did not believe what he was hearing and at the same time was happy for them. "Come to think of it, I never knew you had a Psyduck with you."

"It's a long story" said Misty, deciding some things were better left unsaid as she didn't want to have to tell us how she got Psyduck in the first place let alone the fact her sisters insisted on having her bring him along when she decided to check on Ash in Unova, more so as the Water-Type Duck Pokemon simply held his head and not paying attention to things. "Oh yeah, Ash I got in touch with Professor Oak, he said that Gary is in Unova and would like to meet with you again."

"Really? Gary wants to see me?" began Ash, somewhat surprised by this as was Pikachu while Misty silently nodded her head though Jeanette realized that Gary was one of the participates of the Indigo League and how he lost in the 4th round of the preliminaries against Melissa and her Golem at the Rock Field but never would have thought that he and Ash actually know one another. "I see, been a long time since I last saw Gary back in my travels in Sinnoh."

"Who is this Gary?" I asked, out of all of Ash's rivals, Gary was the one who I never actually met let alone seen Ash battle against outside of the Johto League Silver Conference when it was airing on TV before I left Petalberg City with my bike to Littleroot Town, which caused Ash and Misty to glance at me with a bit of surprise but couldn't blame me for not knowing who they were talking about.

"He was Ash's first rival and Professor Oak's grandson, ever since Ash began his journey as a Pokémon Trainer… Gary always had a head start when it comes to traveling through Kanto and Johto with the Orange Islands being the only place that he hasn't been to plus before they became trainers… they had this rivalry where they both fished out an old rusted Pokéball that they tried to claim for their own, their struggle caused the Pokéball to break in half… Ash had one half and Gary the other, which Brock and I never knew about until the Johto League" explained Misty, telling me what she knew about Gary since she and Brock first met him along the way to Saffron City at the same beach they met Professor Oak and Ash's mother while Tracey only met him in Pallet Town after his, Ash's and Misty's travels in the Orange Islands as well as the fact Gary had captured more Pokémon than Ash did during his initial journey in Kanto, how he had this cheerleading squad by his side to cheer him on yet they start to cry whenever Gary loses a battle as shown at the Viridian City Gym when Ash, Brock and Misty learned of how some evil Pokemon had easily beaten his Arcanine and Nidoking as well as when he lost in the Indigo League preliminaries, how Ash lost his first battle with his rival after the Orange League but was able to defeat him in a full six on six match as far as I remembered, I was even more shocked to learn Gary's starter Pokémon was a Squirtle which had since then evolved into a Blastoise by the time the Johto League had occurred and Ash had realized that Gary might have battled against Samurai at the Viridian Forest and possibly Misty's sisters as well since they mentioned having been beaten by trainers from Pallet Town, I silently listened to Misty's story about Gary from start to finish, she didn't leave anything out as her story ended with the end of the Johto League and his decision to become a Pokemon Researcher like his grandfather. "Still, how is it that you actually saw Gary in Sinnoh, Ash?"

"Here's the thing… before I went to Hoenn, he decided to travel somewhere with just his Blastoise and I gave him back the other half of the rusted Pokéball as a means to wish him luck, then after winning the Kanto Battle Frontier and before I decided to take my journey to Sinnoh… I had a brief battle with his newly acquired Electivire and I lost" he began, revealing that he had encountered Gary again in Pallet Town after he, Brock, Max and I parted ways then at some point during his travels in Sinnoh, he, Brock and Dawn somehow crossed paths with Gary again as he was looking after some Sheldon which made me frown a bit as I was looking forward to meeting Gary now that I know more about him, at least he wasn't an abusive bastard like Paul or a cocky one like Trip since Gary actually trained his Pokemon the right way. "It seems despite being a researcher now, some things about him never changed one bit."

"How's Mom doing?" asked Anna, wondering what her mother thinks of her traveling with her brother and who could blame her? She never saw her mother in years since their parents divorced years ago, something that she could never forget and is rather worried. "She must resent me for being with Ashy again isn't she?"

We all remained silent as we saw that tears were flowing from her eyes. "Right now, the only thing I could do is say that I've spoken with her and she's on her way right now… not only to make sure Ash is okay but to accompany Gary to meet with you guys" answered Misty, seeing Anna holding onto her Clefairy for comfort then Relena decided to speak up.

"You shouldn't worry too much about it, I'm sure your mother still loves you with all her heart and that won't change" she explained, trying to be as reassuring as possible then her expression darkened completely with what she was about to say next. "More than what Jessica and I can say for that selfish Grumpig that once called himself our father before I met Aurora and he became my father…"

This last remark shocked us completely, even Mikki as Relena never actually talked about her own biological father and why she called him a 'Selfish Grumpig' which meant something must have caused her to despise him with a passion along with the fact she referred to Aurora by his actual name rather than as 'father' as she would normally do. "Relena…" began Jeanette, wishing there was something more she could say to my best friend. "What exactly happened to make you hate your biological father? Then again, if you don't feel like talking about it, then it's al…"

"No, its fine Jeanette…" replied Relena, with Aurora giving her an approving nod since it was inevitable that her birth father would be mentioned and having never revealed what had truly happened to him prior to having met us. "Father had a bad history with him before Jess and I were even born, since Lady Amelia, one of the seven Atlantica Islands Gym Leaders was actually a lovely female Suicune and Father's wife before a witch had previously placed a curse on her when she wasn't supposed to be the one to be inflicted upon it then she was forced to marry that 'Selfish Grumpig' and forced Father to flee from his home… Needless to say, that marriage didn't last too long since she couldn't have children with the 'Selfish Grumpig,' leading him to throw her out which led to her not liking me at first since I was one of his children."

None of us said a word, especially not Ash since they had no idea that Relena and Aurora hated the man who was actually her and Jessica's biological father since he sounded like a cold-hearted bastard, even Ash's and Anna's parents divorcing wasn't anything that bad plus Jeanette thought to her parents who were loving and kind to her throughout her entire life even before she became a Pokemon Trainer and eventually a champion which Whimsicott and Mawile stood by their elegant trainer's side. But before anyone could say anything to change the mood, we saw two Victini coming down the stairs. One of them looked very unhappy as they both approached Relena.

'What did you do to us?' demanded the male Victini.

"Oh... you two," Relena said to the two Victinis as she rolled her eyes.

'Please tell us what you did to us,' the female Victini requested trying to remain calm.

"You two were getting to be annoying," explained Relena. "You've been following us after the Desert Resort and we've been hearing you make love to each other very loudly. It was even annoying some of the local Pokémon around us too. So... I decided to turn you two into cute little Victini Pokémon... Taichi... Domino."

"HUH?!" asked most of us as we were very shocked to see that the two former Team Rocket employees were now Victini Pokémon.

'Turn us back,' demanded Victini Taichi.

"You know... I'd love to," Relena began in a sarcastic and snappy tone, "but I made sure that the spell was permanent and that no one could ever undo it, not even me. Except for Lord Arceus, perhaps. Lord Arceus is about the only being who could undo my spell."

'Why you little...' Taichi began to say before a paw slammed down and restrained Taichi. 'Wagh!'

'Be careful of what you say next,' Aurora cautioned Taichi, 'I will not tolerate slander against my daughter.'

'Well, Taichi,' began Domino, 'maybe it's not such a bad thing.'

'How can this not be 'such a bad thing'?' Taichi asked his lover as he struggled to break free from Aurora's paw on his furry back.

'Well...' trailed Domino before looking at him, 'you don't have that awful mechanical hand on your left hand anymore.'

Before Taichi could say anything snappy or sarcastic, he looked to his left hand and saw that indeed there wasn't a mechanical hand there anymore. He knew that his lover was right, but I was guessing that he would've preferred if the mechanical hand was gone in the first place. Letting out a sigh of defeat, the reality of permanently being Victini Pokémon set in for Taichi and Domino already seemed resigned to her fate.

"One last thing before you two go," Relena said to Taichi and Domino.

'Huh?' asked a puzzled Taichi and Domino, looking at each other confused and then looking to Relena with a dumbfounded looked on their faces.

Relena then chatted some sort of spell on Victini Taichi and Victini Domino, as it was in a language that most of us couldn't understand except for Richie and strangely enough, I could understand it. Before anyone could ask Relena what she did, we saw what the spell did as Domino tackled her lover to the ground and hungrily claimed his lips in a passionate kiss. But before they could go any further, Relena stopped them in their tracks and told them to go somewhere private. With a grin on Taichi's face, he eagerly picked up his lover and floated off somewhere and we would never see them again.

"What did you do to them?" asked Anna.

"It's quite simple," answered Relena. "I turned them into Victini and then put a lust spell on them. They want to be so eager to make love to each other, then I was going to make sure to fulfill their wish."

"That was a little harsh, don't you think Relena?" I asked my best friend and 'sister.'

"Not really May," answered Relena. "They bothered us with their lovemaking and I just got them to go surrender to their desires somewhere else."

"I just hope that you don't do that to us," Ash said to Relena nervously.

"Relax, you and May have no need to worry," Relena reassured Ash calmly. "Just don't push your luck and make sure you show some restraint."

"Well, I think it's about time that I did some training with Ash and Hilbert before they take on Elesa for their Bolt Badge," Richie informed the group before looking to the said trainers. "Grab whatever Pokémon you're using for your gym battle and meet me on Route 16 in an hour."

"While we ladies get to enjoy a pastime that's quite the favorite thing for us to do," Relena said happily as she pulled out a card from her wallet with a big grin on her face.

Slowly each of us girls then pulled out the same kind of card that Relena had pulled and we all had a big grin on our faces just as much as Relena had on her face. The guys each had an uneasy look on their face, at least those those of them who had a girlfriend. Before Richie or even Jonathan could say anything, we ladies took off without so much as a 'See you later.'

"Do you feel bad that we ditched our boyfriends while we came to the mall to shop?" I asked Hilda, Relena, Abelia, Mikki and Misty.

"You kidding?" Relena answered me with a question of her own. "Even we need to have a break from our boyfriends once in a while."

We gave Relena a slight nod of agreement to her answer before she continued, "Besides, Richie and Jonathan will whip Ash and Hilbert into shape before we know it."

"I hope you're right Relena," Abelia said with a slight chuckle. "It wouldn't be surprising if Jonathan was trying to pass on his battle style. Especially since we're about to take up our new positions back in our home region of Oblivia."

"Oh?" asked some of us as we were interested to hear what Abelia had to say. "You're taking up a new position?"

"Yes," answered Abelia. "About a year and two months from now, we'll taking up the post as members of the Elite Four of the Oblivia Pokémon League that's still undergoing the final stages development.

"That's kinda why Jonathan and I are going through Unova and then on to the Atlantica Islands," finished Abelia. "And we're hoping to be married before we take up posts."

"Posts?" asked Mikki.

"Yeah, they don't want a couple to act as one member of the Elite Four," explained Abelia. "They heard about Relena and Richie being the co-champions of the Atlantica Islands and they apparently wanted to make sure that a couple doesn't come to act as a single member of the Elite Four."

"That's kinda dumb," Relena said as she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"It's alright Relena, we don't mind it at all," Abelia said as she waved her hand dismissively. "But I think you need another new outfit."

Relena then widened her eyes in shock as Hilda, Abelia and I slowly approached her and Hilda then tackle her to the ground. Mikki had a blank expression on her face as she watched us restraining Relena.

"I'm telling you guys that you didn't need to restrain me just to get me to buy a new outfit," Relena informed us as we returned to the Pokémon Center after four hours of shopping. "All you had to do was just tell me that you wanted to get me a new outfit."

"If you ask me Relena, you should've just run away while you had the chance," Mikki said with a sigh before hearing her cell phone go off. "Oh, uh, excuse me. I gotta take this call."

Mikki then excused herself to answer her cell phone while we went through all of the clothes we bought. The outfit that we had bought Relena was something that she actually liked. We had bought her two outfits instead of one. But the outfit she liked the most was the sleeveless white shirt with a blue Pokéball design and blue shorts with a purple floral print on them. The other outfit we bought Relena, the first outfit we got her was something a little similar to her signature outfit. It had a sleeveless emerald green shirt which allowed her midriff to show and an ocean blue skirt that went down to her knees with the Dive Ball on the left thigh and a few aquamarine blue bracelets on each wrist. I know that Relena was still a bit apprehensive about wearing outfits that let midriff show, but I figured that Abelia made quite a convincing argument for at least getting a few outfits.

A few hours later, our boyfriends... or fiancés, came back from training to take on the Nimbasa City gym and Elesa for the Bolt Badge. Ash's first choice had been Palpitoad, but Ayame and Latias were quick to come in, eliminating any chance of Ash's other Pokémon to have a chance at battling against Elesa. Both Latias and Ayame had some bruises and a couple bandages as did Snivy, Pikachu and Pignite. They wanted to try and help Ash, but both Latias and Ayame seemed dead set on being part of Ash's team when taking on the gym leaders here in Unova. But if you ask me, I thought that Ash should've put a collar on his two overzealous female Pokémon, Ayame and Latias. It was then that Jonathan had an idea.

"Why not do a practice battle against Abelia and I?" Jonathan asked Ash and Hilbert. "We're gonna be members of Oblivia Elite Four soon and you two need the practice."

Ash had a grin on his face as he seemed to like the idea of battling against Jonathan and Abelia. Both Ash and Hilbert agreed to do the practice battle. For me, it just didn't seem like it was a good idea to challenge two upcoming members of a regional Pokémon League's Elite Four. But I know that Ash has done it before. He challenged a member of Kanto, Hoenn and I think he challenged a member of the Sinnoh Elite four before. I just hoped that battling against Jonathan and Abelia was going to help Ash and Hilbert prepare for their gym battle against Elesa the next morning.

'_Oh man, those two were a bit too powerful for us challenge by ourselves,_' moaned Ayame as she and Latias were lying on the ground, catching their breath.

'_Really? What was your first guess, Pumpkin brain?!_' shot back Latias in an angry tone and in pain. '_Was it that you thought you could challenge that Genesect on your own? Or was it the Clawitzer who knocked you down senseless with that Water Pulse attack and its Mega Launcher ability?_'

'_Look who's talking Miss I can handle a little Venemoth and Scolipede,_' Ayame shot back angrily and still in pain from the thrashing she took.

'_Both of you underestimated your opponents, my dear sisters,_' Pikachu informed both female Pokémon. '_Maybe you two need to stop trying to show each other up just to get Ash's attention and affection. I swear you two are like Sister Bayleef and she's just as bad in wanting attention and affection from Ash._'

"Man, they certainly didn't take any prisoners during the practice battle," Hilbert said with grimace on his face.

'_You're not kidding Master Hilbert,_' agreed Hilbert's recently evolved Emboar. '_Nor did they pull any punches. I guess we know what to expect once we get to the Unova League._'

"You're not kidding, Emboar," agreed Hilbert. "We should just focus on the gym battle tomorrow."

"Wow, that was one brutal gym battle, Emboar," Hilbert said as he had gone first in taking on Elesa for his Bolt Badge. "I never thought that she was gonna pull out all of those stops."

'_Agreed Master Hilbert,_' replied Hilbert's Emboar. '_I guess after her Eelektrik lost to Victini, she wasn't going to take any chances against Fire-types again._'

"At least you didn't aim your Flamethrower attack at Eelektrik's mouth like May's Victini did," added Hilbert. "That was one heck of a spicy meatball."

'_No, I agree with Eelektrik,_' disagreed Emboar, '_That was a dirty shot._'

"Well, I guess that means that I'm next," Ash said to Hilbert as he was enthusiastic after seeing Hilbert's gym battle and getting fired up. "And I know who I'm using for my gym battle. I'm using Palpitoad, Latias and Pikachu."

Latias was certainly happy when she heard Ash say that she was going to be part of Ash's battling team against Elesa. She tackled Ash to the ground and rubbed her left cheek happily against Ash's right cheek. Ayame sighed in defeat as she had hoped that Ash would use her in the gym battle instead of Latias or either Palpitoad or Pikachu. Ash looked to the depressed Ghost/Grass-Type Pokémon and said confidently, "Cheer up Ayame. You'll be in the next gym battle, I promise." Hearing Ash say that brought a small smile to the female shiny Kalos Pumpkin Pokémon. Accepting Ash's promise, she gave him a slight bow.

'_I hope that you will honor your promise to utilize my strength in the next gym battle,_' Ayame said to Ash. '_Because I am holding you to your word._'

'_You can trust Ash, Sister Ayame,_' Pikachu said in defense of his trainer. '_I've never known Ash to break his promises._'

'_I hope you're right Brother Pikachu,_' Ayame said to the Electric-type Mouse Pokémon.

"Alright, the battle between the Nimbasa City gym Leader Elesa and challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town will now begin," announced the female referee. "The challenger is the only one who can substitute Pokémon during the match."

"Alright, time to change things up," Elesa said with a grin on her face as she threw her first Pokéball up in the air. "Alright Eelektrik, it's time to take center stage!"

'_I'm on it Lady Elesa,_' replied Eelektrik as the female EelFish levitated and was in a ready position.

I think Ash was half expecting Dewott to break out of his Pokéball and want to come out and battle, but it seems as though as his fear was found not to be true as Dewott stayed in his Pokéball as it seemed as though that Dewott knew his limits and wasn't going to try and push them any further. But Ash still surprised me with the bold move he made.

"Alright Pikachu, you're up buddy," Ash said to his first Pokémon enthusiastically and with a grin on his face.

Pikachu happily returned Ash's grin with one of his own grins as he took to the battlefield. Some of the spectators were a little disappointed that neither Ash nor Hilbert were showcasing outfits designed on the Pokémon they were using to battle against Elesa. This wasn't really a big issue as not many male trainers were focused on fashion or showing off outfits and the audience knew that perfectly. The referee then signaled the start of the gym battle.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack," Ash ordered Pikachu.

'_You got it Ash,_' acknowledged Pikachu as he rapidly charged at Eelektrik.

"Eelektrik, use Acid," countered Elesa.

'_I am on it Lady Elesa,_' replied Eelektrik as she used the Poison-Type move against Pikachu.

Eelektrik's Acid attack hit Pikachu dead on despite Pikachu still charging in and striking Eelektrik for some decent damage. As for Pikachu, the secondary effect of Eelektrik's Acid attack kicked in and we could see an emerald green glow move down Pikachu's body and it certainly surprised us.

'That's not good for Brother Pikachu,' Victini said to those of us watching.

'_Indeed, I agree Victory Pokémon,_' added Anter.

One of Anter's two mates, a shiny Umbreon named Noa, gave a slight nod in agreement as it seemed that the three Pokémon knew what was going on.

'_What'? What's going on Brother Victini?_' Manaphy asked his older brother. '_What did you mean by 'That's not good for Brother Pikachu'? Did something bad happen to Brother Pikachu?_'

'_Indeed something bad did happen,_' Noa answered Manaphy. '_Acid will sometimes lower an opposing Pokémon's Special Defense stat. You can be assured that Elesa will take full advantage of that. I just hope that Eelektrik doesn't have Acid Spray. Otherwise your Electric-type brother will be in serious trouble._'

Even I was alarmed to hear Relena's shiny Umbreon say that Pikachu might be in trouble if Elesa was going to press her suddenly gained advantage. Unfortunately, some of us noticed the grin on Elesa's face as it seemed as though she knew that she had an advantage. It was then that she snapped her fingers and smiled a little bit.

"Alright, Eelektrik use Acid Spray," Elesa ordered her Electric-type Pokémon. "Let's press our advantage over Pikachu while we still have it."

"Oh no you don't," Ash countered back. "Pikachu dodge it and use Iron Tail."

'_Good thinking Ash,_' replied Pikachu as he sidestepped the Poison-Type attack and countered back with his Steel-type attack, smacking the female Electric-type EelFish Pokémon across her face.

'_You'll pay for it Kanto Electric-type Pokémon,_' snarled Eelektrik. '_Here, take this Acid Spray. See if you can dodge this._'

Unfortunately for Pikachu, he was at point-blank range and as he was trying to dodge the Poison-Type attack from Eelektrik, part of the Acid Spray attack caught Pikachu on his right foot and he squeaked in pain. The same emerald green glow went down Pikachu's body and ran down the length of his body very quickly. Anter and Noa both closed their eyes and shook their heads in disbelief as they let out a sigh.

'_I was afraid of that,_' Noa said to her Thunder Fang lover, Anter. '_Now poor Pikachu won't have much of a defense against Eelektrik's special attacks._'

'_Agreed my Moonlit Twilight,_' agreed Anter. '_If our Electric-type companion gets hit with another Acid Spray, then this battle might be over quickly._'

'_What does Acid Spray do anyway?_' Manaphy asked Anter and Noa.

'Acid Spray will harshly lower the target's special defense stat,' Victini answered for Anter and Noa. 'Unfortunately, Elesa and her Eelektrik have the complete advantage over Brother Pikachu.'

'_Please, Brother Victini, don't be negative about our Brother's chance to win,_' Meloetta said to Victini before she heard Pikachu shriek in pain and fall in defeat.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Eelektrik wins," the referee announced to the audience.

Pikachu wearily went back to Ash's side and had a defeated look on his face as he felt ashamed that he had lost to Eelektrik.

'_I'm sorry Ash,_' Pikachu said to Ash with a worried look on his face. '_I thought that I could win against her Eelektrik._'

"Don't worry about it, Pikachu," Ash replied with a smile on his face. "You did all that you could do and that'll help big time."

Ash was about to grab the Pokéball holding Palpitoad when Meloetta came to him from the audience. He was certainly surprised to see the legendary Normal/Psychic-Type Pokémon come from the audience. A lot of other people were equally surprised to see Meloetta too and some even began to whisper among themselves.

'_Ash, please allow me to handle this Electric-type,_' Meloetta requested of Ash. '_I can handle this one no problem._'

Ash felt a bit uneasy with Meloetta's request as his next planned Pokémon was Palpitoad and he didn't want to bench the Water/Ground-type Vibration Pokémon either. Ash then tried to protest with Meloetta.

"But Meloetta, Palpitoad has the type advantage over Eelektrik," Ash protested to his own Pokémon.

'_True, but Elesa's Eelektrik has the Levitate ability and that nullifies Palpitoad's type advantage in battle,_' Meloetta calmly countered back. '_I only ask that you trust me Ash. I can be of much better use to you then my Water/Ground-type companion._'

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Ash relented and gave a slight nod to Meloetta to take Palpitoad's place. I figured that he was going to apologize to Palpitoad or that Meloetta would apologize later. Meloetta then took her fighting stance, ready to face Elesa's Eelektrik.

'_I certainly hope that you'll be more of a challenge to me than that pathetic excuse of an Electric-type from Kanto,_' Eelektrik said to Meloetta. '_I guess that all Electric-type Pokémon from Kanto are pathetic just like that Pikachu was._'

'_You'll regret ever saying that about Brother Pikachu,_' shot back Meloetta as the match began.

"Meloetta, use Dazzling Gleam on Eelektrik," Ash ordered Meloetta.

'_After what Eelektrik said about Brother Pikachu, I would be more than happy to do so,_' replied Meloetta as she used the Fairy-type attack on Elesa's Eelektrik.

'_Gah! What power..._' Eelektrik said weakly before collapsing in her defeat.

"Guess we've got a pretty strong bond too, eh Meloetta?" Ash asked the Melody Pokémon with a grin on his face.

Meloetta turned and gave a slight nod to Ash as her answer and then looked to Pikachu as she said, '_I hope that this victory will restore your honor, Brother Pikachu._'

'_Yes, thank you Sister Meloetta,_' replied Pikachu as he was satisfied. '_I'll... make sure that this doesn't happen again._'

'_Think nothing of it, my Electric-type brother of Kanto,_' Meloetta replied happily with a cheerful smile on her face.

'Eh?! What are you three doing here?!' Victini asked as our least favorite trio had arrived at the Nimbasa City gym to watch the gym battle. 'You're not here to try and steal me or my brothers and sisters, are you?'

"Relax, we ain't to steal no one's Pokémon," replied an annoyed Meowth.

"Not with Giovanni and the command structure of Team Rocket dead," added James. "Team Rocket's pretty much finished with all of the in-fighting and backstabbing."

"We pretty much got out once we heard the Boss was dead," Jessie added with her two cents. "Besides, that one girl with the Suicune gave us money to start a business and told us that she thought we could much better at something other than stealing Pokémon from twerps like your trainer."

"Not to mention, we made sure got out all of our own Pokémon before some of members got our Pokémon," added James.

'I see,' Victini said cautiously. 'I guess Lady Relena was able to find some good in you three. Well, I wish you three luck. But I don't think the others will be happy to see you three here and will probably have the same assumption I had.'

"They already told us about that and confirmed Taichi's story," I informed Victini as I returned to my spot in the audience.

"Though da other criminal syndicates will try to take da power and influence dat Team Rocket had and use it for demselves," Meowth informed us. "Team Rocket had considerable power and influence throughout da world."

"How's the twerp doing anyway?" Jessie asked me.

I was a bit upset with Jessie because she still kept calling my fiancé a twerp. As much as I wanted to, I kept calm and restrained myself from decking the red-haired former member of Team Rocket. At first I gave no answer to Jessie and then after calming myself down, I gave her an answer.

"My fiancé is doing alright," I answered Jessie. "He just had a rough start with Elesa's Eelektrik."

'She took down Brother Pikachu after pressing her advantage while lowering his Special Defense stat,' added Victini. 'Then Sister Meloetta came in and took and knocked out Eelektrik in one attack.'

"Sounds like Pikachu might be losing his edge," Meowth said mockingly with a grin on his face.

'_You take that back Meowth!_' Manaphy demanded of the Normal-Type Scratch Cat Pokémon. '_You take what you said about Brother Pikachu back right now!_'

'Brother Pikachu just didn't expect Elesa's Eelektrik to know those two Poison-Type attacks, Kanto Scratch Cat Pokémon,' Victini said to Meowth calmly. 'I seriously doubt that Brother Pikachu has lost his edge.'

"Not bad Ash," Elesa said to my fiancé. "That was quite the fashionable comeback you and Meloetta have made."

"Thanks," replied Ash. "But we're just getting warmed up here."

'_I agree with you, Ash,_' Meloetta said happily.

"Next up will be Zebstrika!" exclaimed Elesa as she tossed up her next Pokéball.

Out came the same Zebra-like Pokémon that Anter defeated. I could see that he wasn't happy, especially after suffering two humiliating defeats. We could see the look of determination in the eyes of Elesa's Zebstrika as he looked to regain his honor.

'_Ready to battle, Mistress Elesa,_' the Unova Thunderbolt Pokémon informed his trainer. '_I really want to regain my honor._'

"We'll do our best Zebstrika," Elesa informed her electric-type Pokémon.

"Meloetta, why don't you let me have someone else take on Zebstrika," Ash said to the Melody Pokémon.

'_Huh? But I can take on Zebstrika,_' protested Meloetta.

"I know," replied Ash, "but I was saving Latias for taking on Zebstrika."

'_Oh... I see,_' said Meloetta as she thought of why Ash wanted to bring in Latias against Zebstrika. '_Ah, that's right. Sister Latias is a Dragon-type Pokémon and Dragon-type Pokémon are well resistant to Electric and Fire-type moves._'

As Ash was getting Latias's Cherish Ball out, in a strange turn of events, Palpitoad burst out of his Pokéball…. This surprised a lot of us as we usually expected Dewott to come out of his Pokéball instead of Palpitoad and to Misty, it was reminding her of all the times Psyduck popped out of his Pokéball whenever she tried to use one of her other Water-Type Pokemon to face her opponent in battle. "Looks like Ash is starting to understand how I feel whenever Psyduck does this with me all the time" commented Misty with a small sigh while holding her Azuril in her arms as she was already informed of all the times Dewott popped out of his Pokéball prior to his evolution from Oshawott and she was somewhat surprised to learn this as well as the fact that for once, Palpitoad was the one that did so.

'_I though you were gonna use me in this gym battle Ash,_' moaned Palpitoad. '_What happened to the plan you set up?_'

"I promise you'll be in the gym battle, I'll make sure you're in the next gym battle," Ash reassured the Water/Ground-type Vibration Pokémon. "I'll make sure that you, Ayame and Roggenrola… as I made a promise to use him for the next gym battle in all honesty since he actually wasn't too thrilled when he learned I wasn't going to use him against Elesa."

'_Fine, I better in the next gym battle,_' Palpitoad sternly informed Ash before Ash recalled him to his Pokéball.

With Palpitoad reassured that he would be in the next gym battle, Ash grabbed Latias's Cherish Ball and then threw it up in the air only to see that it was empty. Ash had a dumbfounded look on his face until Latias tapped Ash on his left shoulder. It seemed that she had let herself out and transformed into her companion from Alto Mare with a new outfit on. Ash was certainly surprised to see Latias as Bianca, her human companion from Alto Mare. The Dragon/Psychic-type Pokémon returned to her original form as a Pokémon and amazed many people including Elesa. The Dragon/Psychic-type Eon Pokémon then rubbed her cheek against Ash's cheek much to my displeasure.

'_Don't worry Ash, I won't let you down,_' Latias said happily as she turned to face Zebstrika.

"Al-Alright Zebstrika use Flame Charge," Elesa stammered a little bit, still in awe of seeing Latias transform herself from a human being back to a Pokémon.

'_You got it Mistress Elesa,_' acknowledged Zebstrika as he prepared his Fire-type attack and then began to charge at Latias.

"Latias use your Dragon Pulse attack," Ash countered back as he was hoping not to have Latias fall like Pikachu did.

'_Yes Ash,_' acknowledged Latias as she prepared to counter back with her Dragon-type attack.

Fortunately Latias waited for the right moment to use her powerful Dragon-Type move, especially so Zebstrika wouldn't be able to dodge the blast as he used his Fire-Type move and the Unova Electric-Type was certainly caught off guard by this. "I'm impressed Ash, however it is going to take more than just a powerful Dragon-Type move to beat us" said Elesa, and then turned her attention towards her own Pokemon with a slight nod. "Zebstrika, use your Wild Charge attack!"

'_Understood_'answered Zebstrika, preparing his powerful Electric-Type attack and charged right at Latias, while Dragon-Types were resistant to Electric-Type moves… Ash knew that he shouldn't be taking any chances against Zebstrika.

"Dodge and use your Mist Ball!" countered Ash, Latias managed to avoid the Wild Charge and responded by forming a ball of mist from her mouth then fired it right at Zebstrika, surprising all of us by the fact that she knew such a move and from the way there is a emerald green tint on Zebstrika's body, it was a sign that his special defense had been lowered…. Normally Psychic, Acid and Shadow Ball would be attacks to lower a target's special defense but we had never guessed that this Mist Ball attack would so the same thing. "Alright, let's use Return now!"

Latias nodded her head and complied with a powerful Return attack which was more than enough to bring Zebstrika down much like how it helped her to defeat Chili's Pansear during their first Unova region Gym Battle. "I must say, you seem to be raising your Pokemon with the utmost care" said Elesa, recalling her fallen Zebstrika then decided to bring out her remaining Pokemon for the battle itself and we know what that Pokemon will be. "However, now it is time I show you what kind of bond, I have with mine… Go Emolga!"

Elesa's Emolga emerged from her Pokéball in a dazzling debut onto the battlefield and Ash decided to stick with his Latias for the battle with a serious expression on his face, especially as Meloetta's Fighting-Type moves would not do well against the female Sky Squirrel Pokemon since she wasn't just an Electric-Type but also a Flying-Type which makes Meloetta's Brick Break, Close Combat and Low Sweep useless. "Latias, be ready for anything she can bring against us" he said to the female Eon Pokemon, who silently nodded her head as the round was about to commence.

"Emolga, use Thunder Wave!" ordered Elesa, with Emolga used her attack in an attempt to immediately paralyze Latias right where she floated but little did they know that Latias countered the move with her Safeguard attack and both Ash and Misty knew that it was the attack they have seen her use back in Johto, something that made my fiancé smile since it proved helpful. "Huh?"

'_Sorry to disappoint you, but thanks to my Safeguard attack… I'm safe from all non-violate status condition_' smiled Latias, turning her glance towards Ash and waited for his next command as she had a move that can do wonders against Emolga as it helped my Manaphy in my Gym Battle against Elesa plus I made a promise to my Glaceon, Oshawott and Manaphy that I would use them for the next battle, I had no intention of breaking my word at all.

"Latias, use Ice Beam!" Ash told Latias, which she silently complied and used her Ice-Type attack to hit Emolga when she least expected it, the attack proved to be a critical blow as it knocked her out in one move and signified that like Meloetta, Latias had a strong bond with Ash herself which made him smile.

"Emolga is unable to battle, Latias is the winner!" announced the referee before continuing with what they had to say. "This means the challenger Ash Ketchum wins the match!"

"Alright, we did it!" cheered Ash, glad to have won and more so as Pikachu, Meloetta and Latias smiled back at their trainer as the photographers were taking pictures of Ash and the three Pokemon that won him the battle. Even we were glad to see him making a huge comeback in the match with Misty, Anna and I being proud… more so as the former Cerulean City Gym Leader saw that my fiancé has indeed improved since the last time she had seen him during our journey in the Kanto Battle Frontier.

"Not bad Ashy, not bad at all" smiled Anna with Clefairy nodding her head, moments before Anna's Froslass appeared before her and what shocked me is that this Froslass looked familiar as I recalled Paul using one in his battle with Ash at the Sinnoh League."Long time no see Froslass!"

"Wait a minute, you know that Pokémon?!" I exclaimed in shock, especially as the Froslass in general turned to face me and recognized me as one of the trainers who watched Ash's match with Paul during the Lily of the Valley Conference. "Come to think of it, how come you aren't with that jerk Paul? Did he release you like he did to Infernape back when he was Chimchar due to believing you to weak?"

'_Don't ever mention his name again!_' lashed out Froslass, showing genuinely tears in her eyes as ever since his defeat at the Sinnoh League, she grew tired of his abusive treatment and as thus… she left him permanently before Relena offered to give her to a trainer that would give her the genuine care that she long since deserved. '_Lady Relena and her Froslass Kagura managed to save me from that boy who I once considered my trainer, more so as it seemed that Kagura was on the same boat as me, has once belonged to someone who used her as nothing but a tool to win battles…_'she sobbed as Manaphy and I were still cautious of this Froslass, but then again ever since having learned of what happened to Infernape long ago when he was still Chimchar, I couldn't blame her for feeling this way._ If not for her and her trainer then… I'd still be with him rather than with Anna…. _

Jeanette and her shiny Whimsicott couldn't help but show sympathy for the female Ice/Ghost-Type Sinnoh Pokemon as there was no way she'd be lying about what happened when Paul lost to Ashy at the Lily of the Valley Conference plus Anna was shocked that Froslass never told her that she once belonged to a trainer as cruel as Paul and felt concerned for her Pokemon. Then I decided to take out my Pokédex to see if I can find out more about this Pokemon.

_Froslass, the Snow Land Pokemon and the evolved form of a female Snorunt when exposed to the Dawn Stone_ began Dexette, revealing the data on the female Ice/Ghost-Type Pokémon from the Sinnoh region. _It freezes prey by blowing its -58 degree F breath. It is said to than secretly display its prey._

"Don't worry, we won't hold any ill will against you…." reassured Jeanette, knowing that this Froslass was telling the truth and gave a smile to show that what's done is done plus from what she heard from Relena personally, even the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia didn't seem too pleased with how Paul treated the poor Snow Land Pokemon in general nor was Mr. Goodshow. "Besides, it wasn't your fault for ending up with Paul to begin with… I should know… I knew a Pokemon that actually belonged to a jerk and helped her find a better home so I'm glad Relena helped you do the same."

"She's right, plus I care for all my Pokemon and you included" added Anna, hugging Froslass in a firm embrace which surprised the Snow Land Pokemon at first but she happily returned the gesture while shedding more tears. "Now that I think of it, Relena and her shiny Umbreon Noa wanted to speak with Ash's shiny Eevee not too long before the match."

"Oh?" I asked, somewhat curious by this notion and having never thought that my fiancé would allow his Eevee to speak with Relena and Noa in private without a good reason. "I wonder what for?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "No idea, though with the way Noa's been glancing at my little brother's shiny Eevee before, there had to be some reason… as if she knew him…" she answered my question then decided to say something else that was on her mind. "That and both Ashy and I were surprised when Relena referred to his Eevee as female, even the reaction when Eevee saw Noa with her."

"Maybe we'll find out more when this talk she's having with Ash's Pokemon is done" said Jeanette, while Whimsicott, Manaphy, Clefairy, Victini and Froslass nodded their heads in agreement more so as we then turned to see Elesa and Ash facing each other with the female Electric-Type Gym Leader holding out a Bolt Badge as his reward for his victory against her…. Then again, if the shiny Eevee that Ash took in did know Noa, could it be possible that not only was it a female as Relena suspected but was it also possible that Noa might be the playful Pokemon's mother? "That and seeing as how my mother is friends with Relena's mother Michiru Kaiou, I wouldn't blame her."

Anna and I were somewhat surprised as were our Pokémon, especially by the fact that Jeanette's mother knew Relena's as well as the fact that it was the first time we've ever heard about Relena's own mother, who she nicknamed her shiny Gardevoir after. "Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens" Anna finally spoke up while Jeanette and I nodded our heads before we turned back to see how the scene of Ash and Elesa will turn out now that the battle was over.

Things ended rather well for Ash. Elesa gave him his Bolt Badge and then we returned to the Pokémon Center where we were staying. Though we saw Drew there with a girl who looked familiar to both Ash and Anna. She had honey colored hair, blue eyes and wore a really nice dress and... was surprisingly quite the looker like yours truly still is. The girl saw both Ash and Anna and approached them with a smile on her face. I must admit that I was very jealous when I saw the girl hugging Ash. My fiancé then turned to me with a grin on his face and introduced the girl.

"May, I'd like you to meet Serena..." Ash began before my silly little buddy gently and tenderly picked up the girl's right hand causing the girl to be surprised and blush.

'My dear gorgeous young girl you have hair that flows like sweet honey and eyes like flawless sapphire gems,' Victini said to the girl as she blushed at his compliment about her. 'You must have spent years developing the beauty that you have from a tender flower to a fully blossomed... YEOW!'

Victini had been hit with a Poison Jab from Drew's Roserade and then grabbed by his left ear by the Bouquet Pokémon under Drew's ownership. It seemed that Roserade was still still upset that he got shown up by Victini. It was that or he did like that Victini was hitting on the girl, Serena.

'_Let's get one thing straight pal,_' began Roserade. '_You might be better at wooing the pretty girls, but you're going to learn which pretty girls you can hit on and which ones are __**off limits**__. And Drew's fiancée Serena is off limits to you, bucko._'

"Huh? Drew has a fiancée?" I asked as I heard Drew's Roserade tell Victini that his trainer had a fiancée himself.

Serena looked to me and saw that I had that jealous look on my face and came up to me. I was still cautious as I thought that she was going to try and take Ash away from me. I guess that Serena couldn't blame me as she must've have seen various other girls thinking that she was going to steal their boyfriends from them.

"I'm Serena Radcliffe," Serena introduced herself warmly. "I'm from Vaniville Town in the Kalos region."

"How do you know Ash and Anna?" I asked Serena, still being cautious.

"I met Ash at a Pokémon summer camp in Kanto that Professor Oak hosted when we were kids," explained Serena. "I met Anna in Johto when my mom took me on tour with her. You see, she was a Ryhorn Racer and a very good one too.

"You don't have to worry about me stealing Ash from you," finished Serena. "I'd been staying in contact with Ash and Anna with Relena's help. If it makes any difference, once Ash said that he got engaged to you I instantly gave up on any chance I thought I would have with him."

"How did you meet Drew?" I asked Serena.

Serena giggled as she answered, "I met him in Hoenn when my mom went through her Ryhorn racing circuit through the region. Hee hee, he certainly swept me off my feet with his dashing personality and we were childhood sweethearts in a long distance relationship."

Letting out a sigh of relief, I was satisfied with Serena's explanation and went into a relaxed stance. I was happy for Serena and relieved that Drew had girlfriend for himself. Despite having a girlfriend in Serena, it still didn't explain why he kept trying to hit on me and other girls.

'You poisoned me with that Poison Jab attack of yours,' Victini said to Roserade as they came back towards us. 'How was I supposed to know you were right there when I expelled the poison from my body.'

'_Just shut up Fire-type,_' shot back an angry Roserade. '_You and I will settle the score one way or another._'

'This coming from one of the little boys who thought they were better at wooing the pretty girls than I,' countered Victini. 'Not to mention... weren't you and your human's other Pokémon humiliated when your human tried to break up Ash and May's engagement and take May for himself?'

"You did WHAT NOW?!" Serena roared at Drew when she heard Victini mention that Drew tried to break up my engagement with Ash.

Drew looked to his fiancée with a scared look on his face. As for Serena, one of her Pokémon came out of her Pokéball. It looked like a little fox and was very adorable. But despite the fact that the fox-like Pokémon was adorable, she was upset with her trainer's fiancé too. Drew.. [chuckling], oh Drew tried to smooth talk his way out of trouble with a rose. Like Drew's plan at the Palm Sun Oasis contest to break up my engagement with Ash, it backfired. Serena's fox-like Pokémon called Fennekin just burned the rose and Drew's face. When smooth talking didn't work, he tried to run from his fiancée and that didn't work either thanks to Fennekin knowing and using Psychic attack to keep Drew from running.

'_Why must he always try to run whenever he gets in trouble with my human, Serena?_' Fennekin asked no one in particular.

"You and I are going to have a serious discussion," Serena said angrily to her fiancé as Fennekin released Drew from her Psychic attack as her trainer grabbed Drew by his shirt collar drug him away from us.

"_I cannot believe that you tried to break up someone else's engagement!_" Serena shouted to Drew as they were in their room and I was listening with Manaphy in my arms and Victini sitting on my shoulder left shoulder.

"_Come on Serena, it... it was just a little joke,_" protested Drew. "_You know that I'd never cheat on you._"

'_Said the guy who agreed to a bet with May's Victini when he charmed that really gorgeous looking human female into giving him affection,_' Drew's Roserade had said, not helping his own trainer or himself.

"_I cannot believe that both of you were stupid enough to agree to some bet with a Pokémon belonging to Ash's fiancée,_" Serena continued in her angry tone. "_And you Roserade, were supposed to be keeping Drew in check before I got here! You're just as guilty as Drew is!_"

Before Serena could continue her ranting and chewing Drew out like an Granbull on a bone, I could hear Drew silence her by kissing her and putting a lot of pressure into the kiss.

"_How dare you kiss me,_" Serena snarled at Drew before she forcibly pressed her own lips on Drew's with as much pressure as Drew did.

"_I don't... like... fast women,_" lashed back Drew before I heard Serena slapping him across his face and then kissing him more and then pausing again. "_So now where does that leave our predicament?_"

"_Where do you think it is now, Drew Anderson?!_" Serena asked Drew angrily as her answer as I heard clothes falling on the floor of their room.

"Okay, that's our cue to leave," I silently informed Manaphy and Victini as we started to leave the vicinity.

'_Huh, but why are we leaving, Mama?_' Manaphy asked me.

'You're not old enough to know, Brother Manaphy,' Victini informed my 'son.' 'Wait until May feels that you're old enough to understand.'

'_That's just rude, Brother Victini,_' Manaphy said as he huffed in frustration by his older brother's answer.

A few hours later, after the argument turned lovemaking session, both Drew and Serena got kicked out of the Pokémon Center for their... 'lover's tiff.' I'll leave it at that and not go any further into detail as we could hear them going at it as did Nurse Joy and she wasn't happy about it, telling them to go to a hotel if they wanted to make love to each other. As for us, Mikki said that she wanted to temporarily join us in heading to Driftveil City for a competition called the Pokémon World Tournament. She explained that trainers from the different regions were converging on Driftveil City to compete in this special tournament and the winner would be given an automatic entry into the Royal Cup tournament scheduled next year in Relena and Richie's home region of the Atlantica Islands. Knowing Ash, he was going to try and enter in the tournament. I wasn't interested in participating in the tournament or even the Royal Cup. They both sounded like extremely difficult tournaments and I wasn't going to press my luck. Mikki even mentioned that her boyfriend, Steven Stone, was participating in the tournament himself.

"Think maybe you and I can have another battle, Relena?" Mikki asked Relena with a grin on her face. "I really need the practice and could use tune up battle."

"And so you thought... what? That I'm going to be target practice for you?" Relena playfully countered back with a smile on her face.

'Ah... so good to be on the road again,' Victini said telepathically with a grin on his face. 'Any longer in Nimbasa City and I would've become reduced to nothing more than a pet. Not to mention that I would have to tell Sister Emolga that she was right.'

'_Oh knock it off Brother Victini,_' Pikachu chided his Fire-type brother. '_We all know that you'd be going around and trying to flirt with pretty girls if we had stayed longer in Nimbasa City._'

'_Lady Relena, are those two always like that?_' Mikki's Pikachu asked Relena.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Relena as she looked to her rival's Pikachu.

'_Are they always arguing with each other?_' Mikki's Pikachu asked Relena.

"Not really," answered Relena. "A lot of times, Victini's mate would be there to end any arguments the boys would have. Lately, she seems a bit moody ever sense she found out that she's carrying Victini's offspring."

"That might do it," Abelia said to Relena. "Jonathan and I came across a pregnant woman in Oblivia and it didn't turn out well for Jonathan."

With all of the conversations going on, we headed towards Driftveil City and the two events that required our attention. Against my advice, my fiancé announced that he was going to enter in the Pokémon World Tournament figuring that it would help him out before the Unova Pokémon league started. Oh well... I got my own shiny Sylveon thanks to Relena and named her Amethyst. Long story short, I got Amethyst as a cute little shiny Eevee and she was very affectionate with me. Later on during the evening Amethyst accidentally ate one of the Rare Candies I had in my pack and suddenly evolved into the shiny Sylveon she is now. Strangely enough, I got her in a Love Ball as Relena explained that she caught Noa in a Love Ball and put Amethyst in the same kind of Pokéball that her mother was caught in. Any of Noa's male offspring that were born to her were put in a Safari Ball that their father, Anter, was caught in. Quite confusing at first, but then I shifted my attention to our next destination and next set of challenges ahead of us.

I was certainly eager to get my badge and ribbon and nothing was going to stop me. Not even Team Plasma!

Author's Note: Thanks to EmperorDraco7 for his help in writing this chapter. Once again I thank Miyuki-Tsukiyono for allowing the use of her OC Mikki in this fic, as it is her Pokémon OC. Please... please leave reviews for this and the other chapters if you haven't done so already. I really could use the feedback in knowing how you feel about this fic. Also...

Victini: '**Comment about how much you love a certain chick magnet from Unova... ME! ^_^**'

Sure... whatever you say Victini. Thank you for being such great fans. I appreciate your support and continued following of this fic. I was gonna say that I hoped you liked the little reference to Indiana Jones and Last Crusade that Serena and Drew had... before Victini interrupted me. Until then my friends... JA NE! ^_^


	24. Chapter 22

Delia: Wow, I never would have thought that Ms. Kaiou and I would be doing the disclaimer today, even more so as I'm also happy, especially as my little Ashy has his own girlfriend but how come Relena nicknamed her shiny Gardevoir after you?

Michiru: You'll find out in the future, still had it not been for my daughter, things might have turned out differently than they have. In any case, Sparky doesn't own anything belonging to TV Tokyo, Game Freaks, Nintendo or the Pokémon company, however the outcome would be better if he did and I apologize for not revealing myself in the actual story as of yet.

Victini: Oh no, not now! *Begins breaking down in tears*

Delia: Awwww… don't be so sad, you'll get your turn sooner or latter. *picks up the cute Fire/Psychic-Type and hugs him tightly*

Michiru: Well, let's get this show on the road as they say!

Return of an old Rival and the Pokémon World Tournament

"Pikachu, use Agility and Electro Ball!" ordered Ash, his Pokémon complied with a nod and used a combination that they have come up with ever since Pikachu first learned the Electro Ball attack during a confrontation with the Ducklett Trio, however it wasn't the only thing that happened prior to us having arrived at Castelia but a familiar sunglasses wearing Sandile also got involved and ended up evolving into a Korkorok once the three Flying/Water-Types were dealt with… I can still remember that even to this day, though Misty was lucky enough to have her own Ducklett, which has since then evolved into a lovely Swanna as we were training our Pokémon…. Anna and her shiny Chikorita were my fiance's opponents, both of which weren't going to give him or Pikachu an easy time.

"Dodge and counter with Magical Leaf!" ordered Anna, her shiny Grass-Type smiled and barely dodged the Electro Ball before retaliating with a Magical Leaf attack that Pikachu couldn't avoid, but that wasn't all she would do. "Now use your Energy Ball attack!"

You_ got it_ Anna!' said Chikorita, opening her mouth and unleashing an Energy Ball attack and it was one of the attacks that my Sawsbuck knew prior to her evolution but in a way, I am impressed by how skilled Ash's twin sister was against Ashy then I took Dexette out to scan the Grass-Type in general.

Chikorita, the Leaf Pokémon. It uses the leaf on its head to determine the temperature and humidity. It loves to sunbathe.

"Wow," was all I said as I saw that Ash doesn't just have Pikachu with him but also has Meloetta, Ayame, Wartortle, Pignite and one of his older Pokémon that he wanted to use for his match with his former rival Gary Oak though Anna had her own lineup to help her out. I held Manaphy in my arms as we watched the match between the two. "I never imagined that Anna would be this skilled."

At this moment, Victini was watching the match as he still found Anna to be cute in her outfit and Meloetta was doing her best to keep him from getting into any trouble. "If that is how you want it, use Volt Tackle!" ordered Ash.

'_Here I come!_' yelled Pikachu, managing to score a direct hit with his signature attack and despite the recoil damage as well as the fact that Electric-Type moves are not very effective on Grass-Type Pokémon, it was still powerful enough to do some meaningful damage against Anna's Chikorita, however the brunette smirked as she was well aware of Pikachu having the Static ability and wanting to make sure she doesn't activate it during their match, hence the reason for long range moves.

'_You're actually pretty good there for an Electric-Type,_' said Chikorita with a reassuring smile on her face, though Jeanette and Anna were best friends which contributed to how Ash's older sibling was this skilled as the female trainer from Crimson City was watching with her shiny Whimsicott from near where I was but showed a genuine smile.

'_Thanks, you know Ash had a Chikorita himself but she has long since evolved into a Bayleef,_' responded Pikachu, returning the smile as both were a bit exhausted from their sparring match but could still fight even in this state. _I'm sure you'll be able to meet her and maybe befriend with her too._

'_I look forward to that,_'replied Chikorita, looking forward to meeting Ash's Bayleef soon as the last time Ash ever used his Johto Grass-Type in a battle was during the Johto League when he fought Harrison in the Quarter-Finals of the tournament and I only met her once at Professor Oak's lab when Ash and I were getting ready to travel through Kanto for the Battle Frontier.

"Okay, let's go Ashy!" smiled Anna, getting ready to make her next move and Ash was more than happy to response in kind however it seems that we heard a small sound near the bushes that got our attention as we turned to the left. "What was that?"

"I'll go see what it is…" I suggested, more so as Manaphy and Victini stood by my side as we approached the bush, as we began going through it… we saw what appeared to be a small black insectoid Pokémon with a large head that takes up most of its body. The head was bisected by a line that runs from the forehead to the mouth, where it splits off. It also had large khaki-colored eyes with square black pupils and no visible sciera. One tooth poked out of its small mouth, and there were three white hairs on top of its head. This strange Bug-Type even had a three segmented abdomen with two small, nubby legs on each segment. The white ruff of its fur ran around its neck and there is a large beige spot on its rear. "I wonder that that Pokémon is."

With some curiosity, I scanned it with Dexette and was fortunate that I got the data. _Scatterbug, the Scatterdust Pokémon. When touched by another Pokémon. Scatterbug scatters the black powder that covers its body and regulates its body temperature._

"Wow, I never would have expected to see a Bug-Type from the Kalos Region here" came Jeanette's voice as she joined with me alongside Whimsicott, both had a smile on their faces the moment they examined the Kalos Bug-Type known as Scatterbug while it eat some leaves nearby. "I heard that aside from Caterpie and Beautifly, this Pokémon has a Butterfly stage as its fully-evolved as well…. In fact, I should know as I have one on my team that I raised well."

"Wow, in that case… I'll go catch it!" I said, smiling brightly as I was prepared to catch the Scatterbug, however before I could take any sort of action… I was given a pink Pokéball from Jeanette… something which surprised me at first. "What's with the Heal Ball?"

"It's to help just in case Scatterbug ends up frozen, burned, poisoned or confused during a battle…. Trust me you'll thank me for this later" she replied back, I smiled and then got my Quick Ball ready as I knew exactly who I was going to use to face this little Bug-Type.

"Alright, go Taillow!" I said, sending my shiny Taillow into battle and got the attention of the Scatterbug, a sign that it didn't look too happy about my Normal/Flying-Type taking action then got into a defensive stance. "Use Aerial Ace!"

'_Okay!_' said Taillow, using her powerful Flying-Type which struck the Scatterdust Pokémon dead center in the chest and fortunately Flying-Types have an advantage over Bug-Types which in a way helps a lot when taking on such Pokémon.

The Scatterbug shook its head and then responded with a String Shot and Taillow took to the skies again, avoiding the attack which would have slowed her down had it made contact however, Scatterbug smirked as it shook its body to deliver a powerful Stun Spore. "Taillow, blow it away with your Whirlwind attack!" I told her, she silently used her Whirlwind to blow away the Stun Spore right back at the Bug-Type, causing it to shake upon being paralyzed. "Let's go with Wing Attack now!"

Taillow swooped down and was able to strike at Scatterbug with her right wing, slamming the Bug against a nearby tree. "Okay, time to see if this works… Heal Ball go!" I threw the Heal Ball right at Scatterbug, hitting it on the top of the head and sucking it inside, there were three shakes as it seems the Scatterdust Pokémon was trying to break free. While the Heal Ball works like a regular Pokéball, it had the useful effect of healing the captured Pokémon fully as a sound was made, signifying the capture has been successful. "Alright, I got myself a Scatterbug!"

"Way to go May!" came Ash's voice, he and Anna were impressed by my capture of Scatterbug, which reminded my fiancée somewhat of when he first caught Caterpie, plus I was remembering the day I captured my Wurmple though it wasn't before long till we heard a male voice from out of nowhere, even more so since I didn't recognize it.

"Well… well, it's been a long time Ashy-boy" Ash and Anna immediately recognized the voice as they turned around to see a boy with spiky-brown hair, dark viridian eyes and donning a black shirt and orange jeans pants. "Come to think of it, I didn't expect to see Annie here too!"

"Gary!" both Ash and Anna both spoke in unison, more so as both twins greeted the boy who served as Ash's first rival back before his Hoenn and Battle Frontier adventures with him was an Umbreon but it wasn't shiny at all unlike Relena's…. something that gotten my attention as well as Jeanette's.

"So that's Gary?" I asked my fiancé, hoping to confirm that it is the boy Misty mentioned to us back at Nimbasa city which Ash gave no verbal reply but nodded his head. "It's nice to meet you in person, my name's May Hakura, some people call me the Princess of the Hoenn Region and I'm currently Ash's fiancé."

"The pleasure is mine, and then again I didn't think Ash would ever get a girl in his entire life let alone a princess" commented Gary, giving his signature grin and then turned his attention towards Ash again as if the two had some catching up to do ever since Sinnoh. "He's matured a lot since he first started his journey from my grandfather's lab and in his pajamas no less.

"Wait, you mean Ash started his journey in his pajamas?" asked Misty as none of us were aware of that incident when we first met him, moments before she, Anna, Jeanette and I found ourselves laughing at the fact that Ash actually got Pikachu while still in his pajamas, something that my fiancé was less than thrilled to hear about.

"Listen, the reason that I went to Professor Oak's laboratory in my pajamas was that I didn't want to miss out on getting their starter Pokémon and the other reason was that I overslept due to the alarm not waking me up…" muttered Ash, leaving out the part where he threw the Voltorb alarm clock like a Pokéball while in his sleep and broke it which was the true reason why he overslept. "Unfortunately Gary already got his Squirtle by the time I got there and the other two starters Charmander and Bulbasaur were already taken by two other trainers before us."

Even Pikachu still found it funny to this very day as he remembered. "Sorry… still, in a way it was actually for the best…." I spoke, managing to calm myself down from the laughter. "If you hadn't overslept and came to Professor Oak's laboratory late, you wouldn't have gotten Pikachu plus you wouldn't have met us and besides, you got all three Kanto starters anyway during your journey."

"Good point on that…" said Ash, realizing in a way that I was right and it was actually good that he woke up late, meeting Pikachu was something that would change his life forever. "Anyway, what brings you here Gary?"

"I just wanted to drop by in Unova and check how you were doing, I heard you were going to participate in the Unova League after winning the Sinnoh League" said Gary with a shrug then glanced at his Umbreon, who was actually more than willing to see Ash's Pikachu again to see how much he has gotten stronger since Sinnoh. "That and I heard about the Pokémon World Tournament so I decided to take part in it."

"That's great, you know I never actually got a chance to battle you at all ever since I moved away with dad when I was younger plus Ashy filled me in on all the details that I had missed" explained Anna, winking at her twin brother who could only scratch the back of his head. "Now that I'm a trainer, it would be good for all three Pallet Town kids to face each other."

"Funny you might say that, I was actually looking forward to facing Ash for old times sake" added Gary, revealing half of a Pokéball which Ash, Misty and Pikachu quickly recognized as half of the old rusted Pokéball that the two boys had fished out and ended up breaking in two during an argument. "I figured that this would be familiar to you pal."

Ash nodded his head, checking his backpack to see if he still had his half of the broken Pokéball and to his relief after 5 or so minutes of searching, he grinned to show he kept it with him as it was actually next to a Pokéball with a lightning bolt mark on it. "Yeah, I remember as I gave it back to you ever since you left Pallet Town after the Johto League and I kept my half for good luck during my travels in Hoenn, the Battle Frontier, Sinnoh and now Unova."

Anna, Jeanette and I were in shock as we never would have guessed Ash and Gary had half of this old Pokéball for so long even after their past rivalry in Kanto and Johto, however what got my attention was the Pokéball that bore the lightning bolt mark. "Is that…." I spoke but never finished what I was going to say which my fiancé nodded his head.

"Pikachu's Pokéball? Yes it is…" he answered, showing us the Pokéball in question and all of us were in awe at the sight of the ball which Pikachu came with. "To be honest, ever since I first got Pikachu, he wouldn't go back inside it even if I wanted him to and the reason he's still part of my team to this day is because I needed to keep Pikachu's Pokéball with him at all times."

"Wow, so that explains a whole lot" said Jeanette, she never would have guessed that Ash had Pikachu's Pokéball around with him this whole time let alone the fact that the male Electric Mouse doesn't want to go back inside of it ever since he became Ash's Pokémon. "No wonder you didn't recall your Pikachu into his Pokéball when my Bellsprout defeated him."

"Oh and speaking of which…. You remember the medal we got from our last contest together right?" I asked, taking out from my bag, half of the ribbon from when my Blaziken went up against his Sceptile at the very end of our travels together from the Battle Frontier as I'm sure Ashy still kept his half of our ribbon since he still had his half of the old Pokéball. As expected, he gave his signature grin as he took out from a smaller pocket his half.

"You know that I would still have it even during my travels in Unova" he told me, and then he turned his attention towards Gary and said to him. "As for our battle, sure…. It would be good to battle against my old rival in a six on six match again after traveling with my friends for so long."

Gary grinned back and raised a Pokéball. "Alright then Ashy-boy, don't take me too lightly just because you've improved a bit since our previous match… Got Electivire!" he said, sending out the Sinnoh Electric-Type Pokémon that defeated Pikachu last time before he traveled to the Sinnoh region but this time, he was ready to defeat it as he had won against Paul's own Electivire at the Sinnoh League itself then got out his own Pokéball. "Bayleef, I choose you!"

Coming out of his Pokéball was indeed his Bayleef, as she was really happy to be part of Ash's team again and cuddled up to her trainer. I found it rather cute that his female Johto Grass-Type was this affectionate while at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if Ayame and Latias got into a Meowth fight with Bayleef as I got Dexette out to scan her.

'Bayleef, the Leaf Pokémon and the evolved form of Chikorita. The bud that ring its neck give off a spicy aroma that perks people up.'

"Yes, I missed you too Bayleef and I wanted to say sorry for taking so long to bring you somewhere but now we have a match to win" Ash told Bayleef, then glanced at Gary's Electivire which was just as strong as it was when Pikachu fought it, speaking of Pikachu… he and Umbreon glanced at each other since both would want a rematch that they were declined of back in Johto but this time, Pikachu was more than ready to redeem himself and beat Umbreon. "Alright Bayleef, use your Vine Whip!"

'_Here it goes!_' yelled Bayleef, extending her vines out to whip at Electivire but knowing Gary, he would have some tricks up his sleeves to keep Ash on his feet like he did back in the day.

"Just like you Ash to charge in head on without thinking" commented Gary, closing his eyes and remembers when he was still a trainer then opened them as he was making his counterattack against my fiancé. "Use Protect!"

Electivire roared as it protected itself from Bayleef's Vine Whip. "Now use Ice Punch!" he ordered, his Thunderbolt Pokémon delivered a chilling punch to the face on Ash's Grass-Type but at least it wasn't enough to knock her out but he needed to be careful since he lost against Gary's Sinnoh Pokémon the last time so he needed to come up with a good strategy. "You didn't think my Electivire knew only Electric-Type attacks and Iron Tail did you?"

"Yeah, I should have guessed that you still have ways to improve yourself even after retiring as a Pokémon trainer" answered Ash, sometimes commenting in secret that Gary should not have retired as being a researcher like his own grandfather just wasn't in it for him. "However, Protect won't keep you safe forever…. Use Sweet Scent now Bayleef!"

With a nod, Bayleef released a sweet smelling scent from the leaf on her head which caught her opponent off-guard and caused him to lower his defense somewhat since Sweet Scent lowers an opponent's evasiveness during battle. "Let's try this again…. use Razor Leaf!" he ordered, which Bayleef complied and unleashed a Razor Leaf attack which did critical damage to Electivire. "Alright way to go, now let's use Headbutt!"

"Protect again Electivire!" countered Gary, having his Pokémon Protect itself from any damage from Bayleef's Normal-Type attack and then got ready to make his next move. "Use Iron Tail right there and then!"

'_As you wish Gary!_'grinned Electivire, delivering a powerful Iron Tail right on Bayleef, fortunately it didn't lower her defense as that was something Ash didn't need but Gary wasn't done with his assault just yet as he was going to take advantage of this.

"Use Ice Punch again!" The Sinnoh Electric-Type charged at Bayleef with its fist filled with chilling wind as she was getting back onto her feet.

"Dodge it and use Energy Ball!" ordered Ash, having Bayleef barely avoid being hit by the Super Effective Ice-Type move and responded with Energy Ball, hitting it dead center on the chest. "Use Vine Whip with everything you've got!"

'_Take this!_' snapped Bayleef, managing to score a direct hit with her Grass-Type move and knocked it down to the ground…. We were watching without a single word since like Anna, Gary had raised his Pokémon so well that they're just as strong as Ash's in a way, with Electivire as no expectation as it got back onto his feet. '_Great, what is it going to take to take this guy down?_'

"You know, this is the first time I have ever seen an Electric-Type Pokémon use an Ice-Type move like Ice Punch" said Jeanette, suspecting that Gary's Electivire might be from the Dream World and if that were the case then it may not have the Static ability at all. "Still, it's a wonder how Ash is having a hard time against this guy."

"Yeah but if I know Ash, he'll find a way to pull through and win" I replied with a smile, if Ash was able to beat Gary before then he should be able to do so again even in a tough match like this.

"Not bad, not bad at all… seems Bayleef has improved since the Johto League but the time for talk ends here…. use Quick Attack and Ice Punch in combination!" yelled Gary, his Pokémon used its priority attack to increase its speed and with the Ice Punch, delivered a direct hit, which seemed like it would knock her out for certain. "Use Thunder attack next!"

'_Take this!_' yelled Electivire, letting out its strongest Electric-Type attack but Ash grinned as he had Bayleef stick her vines onto the ground so she won't take any damage from the Thunder attack… a trick he had long since learned from Jeanette ever since their match at the Indigo League preliminaries. '_What the hell?!_'

"Alright Bayleef, use Vine Whip!"

"Not quite, use Protect to defend yourself once more!" Electivire protected itself from Bayleef's Vine Whip again and now was enough playing around as this match is about to end one way or another so he was about to finish it. "Use Quick Attack and Ice Punch again!"

With this combination used, it would knock Bayleef out for sure however the expression on my fiance's face showed that he had an idea for a move he won't be able to avoid on time let alone try to use Protect while using another attack. "Bayleef, get ready to use Solarbeam!" said Ash, Bayleef began taking in the sunlight but would she be able to get her Grass-Type move out on time.

"Not quite Ash, you really think that Solarbeam would save you? Not likely as by the time it's finished, my Pokémon will have already knocked out your precious Bayleef… let's go!" Gary lashed out, with Electivire's fist charging up with icy cold energy and was about to hit Bayleef with increased speed but the time was now as Bayleef unleashed her Solarbeam from her mouth which struck Electivire head on…. Ultimately knocking it out to win Ash the first round. "Electivire!"

"Great job Ash!" cheered Misty, with Anna, Jeanette and I all happy that Ash was fortunate enough to have beaten Electivire at the very last minute, however there would be another surprise to come as the exhausted Bayleef found herself glowing in a white light… signifying that she was evolving. "Wait, is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, looks like Bayleef is evolving!" said Anna, even Ash was at a loss of words as Bayleef grew bigger and the leaf on her head shrank while the ones around her next started to change shape as well, before long…. She had changed into a pale green, sauropod-like Pokémon with yellow eyes. The leaf that was once on her head was completely replaced with two stamen-like protrusions from the tip of her nose with each tipped with its own anther. She still had four feet, which each have three toes yet the leaves around her neck have sprouted into a large pink flower with a yellow central pattern and white tips.

"Wow, she looks beautiful!" I said, taking Dexette out once more and scanned Ash's newly evolved Pokémon which I recognized as a Meganium from my travels with him in the Kanto Battle Frontier long ago. "Let's see what Dexette has to say about this!"

Meganium, the Herb Pokémon and the evolved form of Bayleef. Its breath has the fantastic ability to revive dead plants and flowers.

"You did it Meganium!" said Ash while hugging his Grass-Type, who was more than happy to return the affection of the human she had a crush on ever since she became his Pokémon as a Chikorita in the Johto region. "Nice job!"

'_Thank you so much Ash, you don't know how much it means to me,_' smiled Meganium, rubbing her cheek against his as Gary calmly recalled his fallen Electivire, which had never lost a battle before until just recently which was a sign that Ash had indeed gotten stronger and has proven it by managing to beat his Electric-Type.

"Well I have to admit, that was a pretty impressive display of skill…. However, this battle's not over just yet, let's go Nidoking!" yelled Gary, sending out his male Poison/Ground-type into action and Ash decided to call Meganium back since while she has an advantage over Ground-Types, Nidoking being part Poison-Type nullifies that weakness completely.

"You've done well Meganium, but you deserve some rest…" Ash told her, which she complied as she went back to her trainer's side and he knew which Pokémon he would use next against Nidoking though while Gary was using some of his older Pokémon, since Ash was sure that not only was Umbreon and Electivire still with him but he suspects Blastoise was also present so he needed to make sure that he has Meganium for when Blastoise is sent into action while using Pikachu against Umbreon and Meloetta for any new Pokémon his rival may have from Unova. "Wartortle, I choose you!"

Wartortle was then sent into action and I smirked since Water-Types have an advantage over Ground-Types with Ash's Kanto Water-Type Starter not having to worry about the Poison-Type moves doing any sort of major damage against him. "Good choice Ash, however I know more than one way to deal with Water-Types…" said Gary, his expression darkened a bit but at the same time he showed respect for Ash and his Pokémon. "Use Thunderbolt attack!"

'_Understood!_'responded Nidoking, surprising me and the other girls as well as Meloetta, Victini and Manaphy that Gary's Poison/Ground-Type has an Electric-Type move for facing Water-Types like Wartortle. '_What the hell?!_'

"Use Withdraw!" ordered Ash, with Wartortle going into his shell to give himself a strong defense against the Thunderbolt attack though it would take more than just a good defense against Gary Oak as he had learned at the Johto League. "Now let's use Water Gun!"

My fiancé's Turtle Pokémon got out of his shell to use his Water Gun to deliver a meaningful strike against Nidoking and take advantage of his opponent's weakness to Water-Type moves plus the Dream World ability he had revealed back at Nimbasa during his sparring match with Jeanette's shiny Rapidash Epona would prove beneficial against this powerful opponent.

As for me, I watched the battle going on with great interest as it seemed that both Ash and Gary Oak were equally matched, doing everything they could to outsmart each other. One of them would knock out their opponent's Pokémon and the other one would come right back and take out the one who knocked out their last Pokémon. The only Pokémon that seemed to last longer was Ayame, Ash's shiny female Gourgeist. She would use her Trick-or-Treat attack to convert the opposing Pokémon's type to the Ghost-type and it was a rather clever move on her part. I think the only Pokémon that Ayame really had a problem was with his Umbreon.

The exchange would go back and forth between Ash and Gary for a couple hours as the battle ended in draw again for both of them. Once the battle ended... things then got a little out of hand as a fight broke out between Ayame and Meganium. Both of them were fighting over which one was would get more affection from Ash. Pikachu wasn't impressed at the sight of Ayame and Meganium fighting each other. But he had to do something before Latias got involved and would make it a three way Meowth fight. Letting out a frustrated sigh Pikachu then leapt up and used his Thunderbolt attack to stop the two quelling Grass-Type Pokémon from killing each other. Both female Pokémon were caught off guard and didn't expect Pikachu to stop them.

'_Why did you stop me? I was winning against that Grass-Type, Brother Pikachu,_' complained Ayame.

'_Everyone knows that Ash's attention and affection goes to me only,_' shot back Meganium. '_I was going to show that Pokémon she can't beat me ever._'

Pikachu sighed again and then said in an irritated tone, '_You two and Sister Latias fight like immature human children over Ash's affections. I'm getting tired of it. You three should know that Ash loves all of us. And I mean that he loves all of us equally and not more than any of the other Pokémon._'

'I'm sure glad that the Meowth fight was prevented by Brother Pikachu,' Victini said as Ash settled the matter by sending Meganium back to Professor Oak along with Wartortle. As for the Pokémon that Ash got back, he got Latias and Dewott back from Professor Oak.

"Ah Driftveil City, here we are," Mikki said with a grin on her face. "I just hope Steven is here. I miss him."

'_You always miss him, Mikki,_' snorted Mikki's Pikachu as he rolled his eyes. '_Right now we need to focus on winning the Pokémon World Tournament. Remember, you said that you wanted to visit Lady Relena's home region of the Atlantica Islands._'

'I hope your home region is beautiful, Lady Relena,' Victini said as he tenderly held her hands and tried to charm her into giving him affection. 'I'd say that the beauty you possess is also the beauty of your home region as well... Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...'

'_You may be __**my**__ mate,_' began Katsumi as she yanked her mate's left ear with an iron grip and drug him back to me, '_but __**my**__ trainer is off limits to you, Pokémon Casanova!_'

'Yeow! Not my left ear again!' Victini telepathically shouted in extreme pain. 'Not my left ear again!'

'_Then go find me some chocolate, pickles and Sitrus berries!_' Katsumi demanded of her mate.

'Y-Yes m-my victorious beauty,' moaned Victini as he floated away to go find the said items that Katsumi demanded him to get.

Pikachu looked in horror as his 'brother' was being bossed around by Relena's pregnant female Victini. Trying to look away and keep a calm demeanor proved to be very difficult for Pikachu as the very moody and upset Katsumi then directed her anger at Pikachu. Poor Pikachu, I felt bad for him.

'_Ow, ow, ow, ow,_' Pikachu moaned in pain as Katsumi was grabbing him his left ear and dragging him away in a different direction. '_I didn't do anything to upset you._'

'_Shut up Kanto Electric-type Mouse Pokémon,_' snarled Katsumi. '_Go find me some dark chocolate and a bottle of ketchup!_'

'_Y-Yes ma'am,_' stammered Pikachu as he did as he was told by Katsumi.

"Wow, someone must have an addiction to chocolate," Gary said with a grin as he unknowingly got in trouble with Katsumi too.

'_Move it human! I want dill pickles and marshmallows!_' demanded Katsumi as she used her psychic power to drag Gary by his left ear. '_And don't come back until you have those items!_'

The rest of us said nothing as to avoid being caught in the middle of Katsumi's wrath. Manaphy clung to me in terror as he was rightfully afraid of the pregnant female Victini. I was wondering if I was going to be the same way if I ever got pregnant with Ash's children and if so, hopefully I wasn't going to be as moody or irritable as Katsumi. It was then that Katsumi took a deep breath and calmed herself down and was in a cheerful mood. She looked to us and was puzzled as to the shocked expression on our faces.

'_Is something the matter to make you have a shocked expression on your faces?_' inquired Katsumi.

Fearing that Katsumi might get upset if we told her the truth, all of us shook our heads 'no' as our answer. Katsumi had a quizzical look on her face as she studied our facial expressions. Taking only a minute, the pregnant female Victory Pokémon just shrugged her shoulders and accepted the answer we gave her.

An hour later, Victini, Pikachu and Gary Oak came back with the items that she demanded that they get her. At first Katsumi was confused as to why they brought her the food, then Victini explained to her why they brought her the food that she requested. Katsumi had a blank expression on her face and a sweatdrop on her forehead in embarrassment.

'_I never thought that I would have mood swings while I was with offspring,_' Katsumi offered trying to save face.

'Even human females have mood swings when they are with offspring,' Victini explained to his mate. 'I imagine that Lady Erika will experience mood swings when she gets that far.'

"I might," Erika said cutely. "As long as my loveable Celebi keeps me happy, he won't have to experience my mood swings."

"Uh oh, I didn't like the sound of that," Ilex said nervously.

"Ash, are you sure that you want to enter the Pokémon World Tournament?" I asked Ash. "I mean, you came here for your next badge from the Driftveil City gym leader."

"Are you kidding?" Ash answered me with his own question. "How cool would it be to get automatic entry into the Royal Cup in Relena's home region? I think it would be awesome, really."

"Just don't expect me to show mercy Ash," Mikki informed my boyfriend. "I came here to enter for a chance to win the automatic entry into the Royal Cup so I can have a chance to battle Relena in her home region."

An hour later, everyone checked into a hotel and Mikki broke off from our group as she went to meet her boyfriend, the son of Devon Corporation's president. Strangely enough, Lucario broke off from the group as well after he had received a call from Cameran Palace that Queen Ilene required his return immediately. Anna promised Lucario, whom she called her master, that she would stay with Ash and make sure that he kept up his Aura training. With a satisfied nod, Lucario left the group for the airport near the edge of town and returned to Cameran Palace.

Once Lucario left, Ash then went to the Pokémon Center to get registered for the Pokémon World Tournament. Ash was certainly eager to participate, but he was disappointed when he learned that the rules of the Pokémon World Tournament prevented any trainer from using legendary Pokémon. Latias was definitely disappointed to see that the rules prevented her from participating in the tournament. Meloetta had no objections to the rule as she wasn't too keen on fighting when she didn't have to fight.

"Alright then, the tournament begins tomorrow," Ash said with enthusiasm. "I can't wait."

"I'm sure you can't," I said with a sigh and in an annoyed tone. "Can't we just forget about the tournament tonight and have a nice date?"

"Why?" asked Ash. "I gotta prepare for the tournament's opening round. Now which Pokémon will I... HEY! Give me back my Pokéballs, Victini!"

'Sorry, but you should be taking a break and focus on giving your fiancée attention,' Victini said as he held Ash's Pokéballs hostage. 'I'm sure even Sisters Ayame, Latias and Meloetta would agree with me that you need to give May your full attention tonight. Right my Sisters?'

The three female Pokémon each gave a nod of agreement to Victini's statement. I was happy to see that even Ash's Pokémon agreed that he needed to take a break from preparing for the Pokémon World Tournament. I had been tending to the shiny Sylveon that I received as a gift for defeating Elesa in Nimbasa City from Relena. I had originally gotten her as a very affectionate little Eevee and she was certainly affectionate. Oddly enough, she helped herself to one of the Rare Candies that I had stashed away in my fanny pack and it caused her to evolve into the shiny Sylveon she is now.

The date night went well for me and Ash as I was certainly happy that Victini and Ash's Pokémon got their trainer to step away from trying to prepare for the Pokémon World Tournament. Ash wasn't so thrilled as he was hoping to be ready in time for the tournament. Despite being upset that he couldn't prepare for the tournament, he still enjoyed himself. Once again N had showed up and thought Ash had his Pokémon on him. And once again, he had to retract his request as he saw that Ash was with me on a date. I did feel bad for N, but I wanted to be selfish and have Ash all to myself that night.

Oddly enough we saw Drew and Serena heading towards the Excadrill Hotel as they bypassed the Pokémon Center. Either the Nurse Joy in Nimbasa City sent the Nurse Joy in Driftveil City a warning about Drew and Serena or the couple learned their lesson and decided that a hotel was a better place to go if they wanted to make love to each other. Even my own Victini was out and about with his mate, trying to make sure he kept her calm and pleased her. Katsumi was very pleased that my silly little buddy gave her his full attention that night and didn't hit on the pretty girls. I guess the fear of Katsumi having a mood swing while she was pregnant was keeping him in line.

"Welcome trainers one and all to the Pokémon World Tournament!" exclaimed the tournament MC as many people were cheering and let their excitement run wild as trainers from different regions had come to Driftveil City for the tournament. "We have many trainers here from the different regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos and even some home grown trainers from right here in the Unova region.

The crowd roared with anticipation as they waited to see who was at tournament. The tournament MC also laid out the rules of the tournament as well as what was at stake.

"Alright as you know, the Pokémon World Tournament is held once every 4 years," explained the tournament MC. "And it's conveniently held the year before the Royal Cup tournament held in the mysterious region known as the Atlantica Islands. What's at stake during this 2 week tournament is the chance to win an automatic entry into the Royal Cup competition held once 4 years. And next year, the Royal Cup happens to take place and is sure to be quite the tournament in the Atlantica Islands.

The tournament MC continued a little further, "This tournament here is quite a big deal as it is held in a randomly selected region, chosen by the Pokémon League Commission. The Royal Cup itself is for only the chosen elite, the best of the best and let's hope that we can find someone here who dethrone the current Royal Cup champions, the Ocean Princess Relena Kaiou and her fiancé and crowned Emerald Prince, Richie Henderson."

'_I never knew that Richie was called the Emerald Prince,_' Pikachu said as we watched on the TV monitor. '_And we've known Richie and Sparky for quite a while since Ash lost to him in the Indigo Plateau League._'

'_That's because we never told you,_' said Sparky as he and Richie entered with Richie's fiancée and her adoptive father. '_We don't exactly like the attention that comes from the titles my human and his fiancée were given. Other humans then start flocking to them wanting something or try to associate with them so they can say they hung out with them._'

"That's understandable," Ash said as he listened to Sparky's explanation. "I wouldn't want unnecessary attention given to me if I had a title like that."

"Why are you called the 'Emerald Prince'?" Hilbert asked Richie as he was curious to know.

"I got it after Relena and I defeated my mother for a gym badge from her gym that she runs on Emerald Cove Island,"explained Richie. "A couple of the hotel workers that the gym is attached to thought it was a good idea and would be a confidence booster for me if they started calling me the Emerald Prince."

It took a while, for Ash to take his turn in the first round. But that wasn't going to be the most shocking news he would receive. With his Pokémon chosen and Pikachu at his side, Ash stepped out into the arena with crowd roaring and really electrified after the last match. As soon as Ash stepped out to the green corner, both he and Pikachu got the biggest shock of their life.

'_Wha? W-What's going on here?_' asked a shocked and startled Pikachu as he and Ash saw who his first opponent was.

"Well, I get to face the Champion of Pallet Town. This should be really fun," Mikki said from the red corner of the arena with a grin on her face. "Let's go Swanna!"

"Oh... oh... well, guess it's time battle," Ash said to himself and Pikachu. "Go get 'em Pikachu!"

'_Sorry Ash, but you should know by now that I would never raise a paw against extremely pretty girls,_' replied Pikachu as he refused to fight against Mikki with a grin.

"Thanks a lot you traitor," Ash huffed under his breath.

"Thank you Ash's Pikachu," Mikki called to Pikachu cutely, giving him a seductive wink and blew a kiss in his direction. "You're a Pika-cutie!"

Pikachu blushed at the compliment and was blushing when Mikki blew the kiss in his direction.

"Oh man, it's just like the time Pikachu wouldn't fight against me," Misty said with a grin on her face as she was sitting behind me. "He was a Pika-pal."

"Okay, that I didn't know about," I said as I saw Anter taking Pikachu's place and certainly surprising Ash.

'_Come human, I shall lend you my assistance as I did for your fiancée,_' Anter said to Ash. '_Since your Pikachu has betrayed you, I shall fight in his place._

Anter then looked to Pikachu and said, '_Away with you, you traitor. I shall do what you should be doing right now._'

Pikachu grumbled something that Ash couldn't hear, but stepped away from the challenger's circle and came to me sitting in the coach's seat. Pikachu was a little upset that Anter had called him a traitor... both Anter and Ash had called him a traitor. Ash's Pikachu leapt up and sat in my lap to watch his trainer's first match.

'_I can't help it if I thought she was extremely pretty,_' Pikachu said to me. '_Besides, Ash knows that my standards for pretty girls are extremely high. A little higher than Brother Victini's standards._'

'_I agree with you Brother Pikachu,_' replied Manaphy as he joined his older Electric-type 'brother' on my lap. '_She is extremely pretty. But not as pretty as Mama._'

"Aww... thank you Manaphy," I said to my 'son' as I picked him up and gently hugged him. "And you're so loyal to your Mama. That makes me so happy."

"Happy... happy," repeated Manaphy.

'What's wrong with my standards, my brothers?' Victini asked Manaphy and Pikachu. 'At least I don't flirt with girls that look pretty and are evil.'

'_That's about the only thing about your stands that you've got in favor, Brother Victini,_' Pikachu said with a blank expression on his face.

"Swanna is unable to battle, Luxray wins!" announced the referee as Mikki's first Pokémon fell in defeat.

Mikki and her Swanna were certainly tough opponents despite being at a disadvantage type wise. Swanna knew such powerful attacks as Hurricane, Brave Bird, Scald, Ice Beam, Rain Dance and Water Pulse. But Anter was able to pull out the victory after Mikki's Swanna used Rain Dance and the first battle turned in Anter's favor as it increased the power and accuracy of Anter's Electric-type moves. Mikki facepalmed herself for the lapse in judgment when she had her Swanna use Rain Dance.

'_And that is a victory not just for Ash,_' said Anter, '_it is also a victory for the Thunder Fang tribe as well._'

Mikki looked to her Pikachu as she heard Anter mention his tribe. Mikki's Pikachu looked back at his trainer and shook his head. Even he had no idea of what the Thunder Fang tribe was. I even dug into my memories to see if Anter had mentioned the Thunder Fang tribe and no recollection of him ever mentioning the Thunder Fang tribe.

Mikki gave a slight grin as she knew what her next move was going to be. Recalling her fallen Swanna, Mikki grabbed her next Pokéball and then threw it out as she released her next Pokémon for battle. Her next Pokémon was very familiar as I happened to have the same kind of Pokémon as she did. Mikki's next Pokémon was the final stage evolution of Bulbasaur, the Grass/Poison-Type known as Venusaur. Anter then looked to Ash as he asked, '_Shall I face this Pokémon?_'

"No," answered Ash. "It's a Grass-Type Pokémon and they have a resistance to Electric-types like you and Pikachu. Plus it might know Earthquake if I get too careless."

'_You raise a valid point there, human,_' agreed Anter as he recalled himself to the side.

Ash then raised up Ayame's Luxury Ball that she was caught in as he was going to use her in battle. He also used his Pokédex to see if he could identify what attacks that Mikki's Venusaur had. Unfortunately for Ash he only got the Seed Pokémon's Pokédex entry instead. So Ash the only thing he could do, or at least tried to do when Dewott decided that he wanted a piece of the pie.

'_Don't worry about this one Ash, I've got this weird looking Pokémon,_' Dewott said eagerly as he still had the enthusiasm that he had an Oshawott.

'_You're out of your league with me Water-Type Pokémon,_' Mikki's Venusaur said calmly and collected.

The battle hadn't been going well for Ash as Mikki had stormed back after making that mistake with her Swanna. She took Dewott down in minutes and Pignite as well. Latias was feeling very uneasy seeing Ash losing to Mikki. The female Ion Pokémon wanted so badly to join Ash and help him, but Meloetta had to hold her back telling her that rules of the tournament prevented her and Meloetta from aiding Ash. Victini had thought about using his power to help Ash, but a glare from me and his mate got him to change his mind. Only after Ayame used a few tricks did she take Mikki's Venusaur down, but only after being poisoned.

"Boldore is unable to battle," announced the referee. "Lucario wins! And winner of this match is Mikki Shiozaki of Celadon City!"

Ash sighed in defeat as he had been defeated by Relena's rival. She kept her word and showed no mercy despite Ash being able to keep up with her. Ash secretly wished that he could've had help from Latias and Meloetta. Accepting the loss, he shook hands with Mikki and was a good sport about losing to her.

"Sorry about calling you a traitor, buddy," Ash said to Pikachu as he apologized for what he had said earlier. "I didn't really mean it."

'_It's fine Ash,_' replied Pikachu. '_But I couldn't help myself with Mikki, she really met my high standards as an extremely pretty girl._'

"Well, just dot let it happen again," Ash cautioned Pikachu. "At any rate, we should try to see if I can get my next badge at the gym here or if it's gonna be closed because of the Pokémon World Tournament."

'Well, looks like we're stuck here until the end of the Pokémon World Tournament,' commented Victini.

We saw that the gym leader had put a note on the doors to their gym to let trainers know that the gym was closed until the end of the Pokémon World Tournament. This was a little disheartening for Ash, but there really wasn't much that we could do until the two week Pokémon tournament was over with. With the group together, we then deliberated on what our next move was going to be.

'I know of a town with beautiful scenery along the way,' offered Victini. 'Even though it's one of those 'evolving cities,' the area around it is teeming with Pokémon you could train with before you challenge the gym leader, Clay.'

"Sounds like a good idea," said Ash as he didn't want to sit around Driftveil City and watch the Pokémon World Tournament. "Where is this town you're talking about, Victini?"

'It's in the northwest area of the Unova region called Anville Town,' answered Victini. 'It's also home to an area where it's said that the third Dragon-type Pokémon created after Reshiram and Zekrom were created for both Princes of the Veil. I think Reshiram and Zekrom could fill you in on the details as we head to Anville Town.'

"How do we get to Anville Town?" asked Hilbert.

'We're gonna have to backtrack to Nimbasa City and take a train from a terminal currently known as the Gear Station,' answered Victini.

"Huh? You're not staying here?" asked a confused Mikki.

"Sorry," I answered Mikki. "My fiancé isn't exactly the kind of guy who sits still. He wants to go do some training before he challenges the gym leader here."

"I see," replied. Mikki. "Well, take of yourselves and we'll see ya guys in the Atlantica Islands."

'_Someone is very confident that they're gonna win this tournament,_' commented Ash's Pikachu.

'_We've got quite the challenge ahead of us, but we'll get through it,_' said Mikki's Lucario as he popped his head out of the door.

'Well, I wish you luck and look forward to seeing you all again soon,' Victini said to Mikki's Pikachu and Lucario before we left.

However, it wasn't for long until we saw a Pokémon that seemed to be in a fit of rage as from the looks of it, it looked exactly like the Pokémon that Pirate-like member of Team Plasma had when it evolved against Michiru and there wasn't a trainer to be seen either. Letting out a menacing roar, it let out a powerful Earthquake attack that nearly sent us falling to the ground but luckily Ash managed to catch me before I fell on my butt. "What's with that Pokémon?" I asked, while my fiancé showed a darkened expression on his face as he knew that we needed to do something before it destroys the entire town in its apparent rage.

"I have no idea, but it's best not to take any chances with that Krokorok!" answered Ash, deciding to send out his Pignite to deal with the Dark/Ground-Type since Pikachu's Electric-Type moves would be ill advised and Meloetta stood by Ash's side just in case her Pirouette form was needed while Jeanette's shiny Whimsicott was protective of her own trainer. "Pignite, use your Brick Break attack to steer Krokorok's attention away from the people in the city!"

Pignite nodded his head and charged out at Krokorok, delivering a powerful and super effective Brick Break across its face. _I don't know who you are but you better stay out of my way!_ lashed the Krokorok with its Intimidate ability activating which cut Pignite's attack in half, getting ready to use Dig and burrowed under the ground.

"Just great, it knows Dig…." muttered Ash, mentally cursing that this Desert Croc had two Ground-Type moves and to make matters worse, was that Pignite's attack had been lowered due to his opponent's ability. It wasn't for long before Krokorok came out of hiding and struck Pignite where he stood much to our dismay. "Pignite!"

_I have you now!_ said Krokorok with a grin on his face, just as he used his Thunder Fang attack to deal more damage to Pignite but my fiancé was not going to lose this battle, at least not like having been defeated by Mikki in their match.

"Use Flamethrower now!" ordered Ash, the Fire Pig took a deep breath and unleashed a powerful point-blank ranged Flamethrower attack which forced Krokorok to let go of his opponent. "Let's see if he likes this combination, use Brick Break and Flame Charge together!"

We were surprised when we heard Ash having Pignite make use of both moves in combination; he must have learned it from witnessing Gary's Electivire using a similar combination of Ice Punch and Quick Attack. "I didn't think Ash would pull off such a useful trick" commented Jeanette, with Whisicott nodding her head in agreement.

"Yeah, I'll say but hey, that's my fiancé for you" I said to the two then turned my attention back towards the battle between Krokorok and Pignite, the latter dodging a Stone Edge attack before delivering a Fire Pledge attack which struck Krokorok. It was then that Ash got his Pokéball ready and knew that now was the time to capture the Dark/Ground-Type as it was starting to look weak.

"Pokéball go!" he yelled, throwing the Pokéball at the Desert Croc and sucked it inside, we all remained silent as the Pokéball shook several times as Krokorok tried to break free from it but eventually the ball stopped moving and let out a sound to signify that Ash's capture was successful. "Alright, I got a Krokorok!"

"Well that's a relief, then again we best help fix this place up before we head back to Nimbasa for some training" said Misty, she made a good point as the damage down by Krokorok in his rampage needed to be repaired as quickly as possible.

Needless to say, it wasn't as easy as we'd hoped with Psyduck and my Skitty popping out of their respective Pokéballs, though Misty was getting annoyed at Psyduck for still doing that, to me it was more like nostalgia since I wanted to bring Skitty back into my team to give her some training as well as some company. "Need some help?" came a familiar female voice and we turned to see that Dawn and her Piplup and Shaymin were there… It was great to see them again despite how surprised we were in seeing they were back in Unova but it wasn't for long till we noticed a Pokémon that also seemed familiar.

"So your Cyndaquil evolved into a Quilava?" asked Ash, rather surprised to see Dawn's newly evolved Quilava at the scene with her and Piplup while the blue-haired Sinnoh trainer nodded her head to confirm that it's all true.

"Yep, she evolved sometime before I decided to see how you were doing in Unova" answered the blunette with a smile on her face. "Plus I let my boyfriend Kenny know that I'll be doing a bit of training here now that my time in Kanto has concluded."

As much as we wanted to catch up with Dawn, it seems we might have to do so later since there was still work to do around here, meaning we might be staying in Driftveil for a day longer not that I minded it I mean. "In any case, we could use all the help we can get to repair all the damage done by a rampaging Krokorok that devastated a few areas of the city" I spoke, revealing what had happened ever since she left us for Kanto, not leaving anything out and eventually concluding with the moment where Ash captured the Desert Croc with Pignite's help.

"Wow, so Team Rocket is no longer a problem to you guys huh?" said Dawn, quite relieved to learn that the criminal organization from Kanto is no more but she cringed a bit at the fact that Team Galactic, Team Magma, Team Aqua, Colonel Hanson, Sir Lawerence the Third and even Team Plasma are a threat while we're in Unova. "Seems that I missed out on a lot lately, especially about this whole concept of Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion."

"Actually…." I spoke before Victini decided to try and flirt with Dawn; luckily he never got the chance to do so with Meloetta pulling him by the ear back to me. "As I was saying, actually you didn't miss out on that much though it's best we keep the whole Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion thing to ourselves, especially as we can't risk Maxie or Archie learning that Groudon and Kyogre have stronger forms."

Dawn remained silent and nodded her head, seeing this as a serious issue and especially the fact that Mega Evolution was even possible. It was getting late and it seemed like hours before we were finished with our assistance in repairing all the damage that Krokorok did and we deserved some rest at the Pokémon Center before we headed out, needless to say that Ash and Misty would end up discovering some new Pokémon to add to the team near the ocean. One was a shiny male Mudkip from my home region in Hoenn and the other was a female shiny Feebas.

"I got dibs on Mudkip!" said Ash, preparing his Pikachu to face the Mudfish, since it would be good to have his own and despite Misty not being too happy about Ash calling dibs, she decided to try her luck with the shiny Feebas in question.

"Alright Mr. Pokémon Master, let's see if you can catch more Pokémon than me!" she challenged him, knowing my fiancé, he jumped at the chance of proving himself especially as he saw Misty's special lure which was designed after herself. "Go Frillish!"

Letting out her female Frillish, the Water/Ghost-Type stood next to Pikachu as they got ready to take on the two shiny Water-Type Pokémon but before either Ash or Misty could make a move, they saw Dream Balls appearing before them and landing on their respective hands. "Wow" began Ash, surprised at first by the fact that they each got a Dream Ball. "Guess we found Pokémon from the Dream World, huh Mist."

"I'll say, all the better for us to catch them!" smiled Misty, giving Ash a quick nod and they got ready to capture their Pokémon.

In the meanwhile, Jeanette, Anna, Dawn and I were inside the Pokémon Center feeling a bit tired from the work but at least it was worth it especially as it gives us all a chance to talk as I petted my Skitty and decided to let my newly caught Scatterbug out of the Heal Ball she was in since it would be good to spend time with them. "So Dawn, when did you and Kenny hook up?" Jeanette decided to ask Dawn, which made our blue-haired friend from Sinnoh blush slightly, not as much as when Victini attempted to flirt with her earlier but it was cute that she had a boyfriend of her own much like Misty had Tracy as hers and I had Ash as my fiancé.

"Well it happened right after the Sinnoh Grand Festival, as I was surprised at first to see Kenny cheering me on and he even asked me out after the festival concluded" said Dawn, blushing at the moment where she and Kenny first kissed ever since that fateful event, something even Piplup was in awe when he witnessed it himself. "He said the sweetest thing to me, especially about my outfit and wanted to cheer me on for the festival itself."

"How sweet!" I replied with a small laugh, wishing I had seen it myself… Oh well, at least Dawn has someone to be with herself, in fact I took notice that Dawn's outfit was different as she seemed to be wearing a black sleeveless top that covered everything up to her neckline and exposed her midriff; with a pink vest covering this to keep her slightly more warm. Her legs were even covered by black yoga pants held up with a flashy looking belt and completing her look is a pair of black shoes. "I see you decided to change your outfit."

"I was just about to say the same about you May" said the blunette, examining the outfit that I was currently wearing with a light smile on her face. "Let me guess, Jessica Kaiou made it for you didn't she?"

"Yeah, she also made new outfits for Anna and Misty as well" I explained, having shocked Dawn when I mentioned how Anna is Ash's long lost twin sister and that their parents divorced long ago when Ash was still a little boy, the bigger shock was that Fairy-Types from the Kalos region were introduced and that not only was Anna's Clefairy a pure fairy-type as were Jessica's Sylveon Asami and the two shiny Sylveons that Hilda and I had respectively but Misty's Azuril and Harley's former Wigglytuff were both Normal/Fairy-Types, Relena's shiny Gardevoir Michiru and both the Mr. Mime that Ash's mom had and the Mime Jr that James of Team Rocket had were Psychic/Fairy-Types, Tracy's Marill was a Water/Fairy-Type, Jeanette's shiny Whimsicott and Anna's shiny Cottonee were Grass/Fairy-Types and Jeanette's Mawile was a Steel/Fairy-Type as well as the fact that not only did Eevee have a 7th evolution but Meloetta has two forms, her Arial Form being a Normal/Psychic-Type and her Pirouette Form being Normal/Fighting-Type. "At least Relena is upgrading your Pokédex to include Pokémon not only from Unova but from Kalos as well, which should help just in case."

"It showed, then again it is still all new to me…." responded Dawn, still having a bit of trouble processing all of this right now. "Still, I was lucky enough to catch my own shiny Pokémon all things considered and you'll be surprised by what I got."

Taking out a Pokéball, she released what appeared to be a golden-gray fox-like Pokémon with sky blue and black accents. Is ears were triangular with dark insides, had a large tuft of fur tipped with sky blue on top of its head and has reddish orange eyes with sky blue eyelids. There were also circular, sky blue markings above the eyes that resemble eyebrows. Its muzzle was short and tapered with two small fangs seen in the upper jaw when it opened its mouth. The new Pokémon also possessed a ruff of black fur around its neck and four short limbs tipped with sky blue. Its tail was short and bushy as well and the way this Pokémon looked, it was kinda cute.

"I wonder what it is…" I said, taking Dexette out to learn more about this new shiny Pokémon that Dawn was about to get.

Zorua, the Tricky Fox Pokémon. Zorua hides its true form by changing its shape into people and Pokémon, and loves to surprise people.

The Pokémon known as Zorua felt nervous around the rest of us but Dawn gave a light smile and said in a comforting tone. "It's okay, you don't have to be scared… they're my friends" This got Zorua's attention then nodded as if it was somewhat convinced to try to befriend with us despite not being used to new people right now.

"Where did you get this little guy?" wondered Anna, rather curious on the story between Dawn and Zorua but felt slightly jealous and at the same time happy for her new friend. "Don't worry, my little brother told me about you and your travels with him throughout Sinnoh."

"Well the thing is, I actually got her by pure chance ever since I decided to pay Unova another visit and she was given to me from a strange robed man named Rood" explained Dawn, reflecting on the day she received her shiny female Zorua from a mysterious old man. "He said that he was one of the Seven sages of Team Plasma though I didn't know who they were at the time, until you mentioned them but I find it weird that someone from Team Plasma would entrust me with Zorua unless it was for a good reason."

This got our attention, last we checked, Team Plasma was trying to take over the world with Pokémon and especially under Ghetsis' leadership so why would a member of Team Plasma be so kind to Dawn to begin with? It just doesn't add up at all just like with this strange green-haired boy named N back at Nimbasa City, though these would be interrupted when we heard something to our right and saw that it was my Skitty checking Anna's bag. "Skitty, what are you doing?" I asked, hoping my Normal-Type wasn't going to take something that Anna has and soon came out with a Moon Stone in her mouth, suddenly triggering an evolution much to our shock.

Manaphy, Victini, Meloetta, Zorua, Clefairy, Azuril and Piplup were in awe themselves as Skitty slowly began changing forms, feeling like it was an eternity until the light faded from around her newly transformed body as she had turned into a quadruped, feline Pokémon with a mostly tan body and we saw that she now had a pointed whisker-like protrusion on each cheek, her now purple ears had here tufts of fur at the tips and there was now a purple ruff-like color with pin-like extensions around her neck. She also had slim legs with tiny, digitless paws and possessed a purple flower-like tuft of hair on the end of her now thin tail. "No way, Skitty evolved into a Delcatty…" began Jeanette, with me holding Dexette again to scan my newly evolved Pokémon.

Delcatty, the Prim Pokémon and the evolved form of Skitty. It is highly popular among female Trainers for its sublime fur. It does not keep a nest.

I was at a loss of words as my newly evolved Delcatty rubbed her cheek against my as a means of affection towards me. _So tell me, how do I look?_ She asked, sounding a bit more mature than she was as a Skitty then I smiled brightly before stroking her purple fur, even though she had evolved, she's still the cute Pokémon that I captured during my travels at Hoenn and in a way it not only reminded me of Dr. Abby and her male Delcatty nicknamed Johnny, but also of when Brock's Lombre took a Water Stone out of Samantha's bag and evolved into Ludicolo right before our eyes…. Speaking of which, if only he was here to see it happened with Skitty.

"You look amazing, even more so as your cuteness hasn't changed at all" I replied with a truthful smile, then it wasn't for long before Ash and Misty came to the Pokémon Center with Pikachu on my fiance's shoulder. "I take it your training went well?"

"You bet, you'll be surprised by what Pokémon that Misty and I were able to catch" said Ash as he had two Dream Balls in his hand and Misty held three Dream Balls, with Ash releasing his newly caught shiny male Mudkip which had the Damp ability as well as an Ice-Type move called Avalanche and another shiny DW Water-Type he had, a shiny male Magikarp with the ability Swift Swim as well as the Bounce attack. Misty on the other hand, has caught herself the shiny female Feebas which had the ability Adaptability and the attacks Dragon Pulse and Mirror Coat, a shiny female Seel with the Ice Body ability and the attack Signal Beam and her last shiny Water-Type was a Buizel with the Water Veil ability and the attack Fury Cutter. "Guess you win this round Mist."

"Thanks Ash, it means a lot to me" said Misty, a bit glad that Ash accepted that she won this contest and at the same time, could tell he has indeed matured since the day she first met him on the start of his journey as a Pokémon trainer.

"By the way, ever since we met again… Ash seemed a bit distant when we were working on repairing all the damage done by Krokorok as it seemed" Dawn soon remembered what she saw on Ash's face when she encountered us again in Driftveil, as if something happened to make him like this. "Is there something the matter?"

Ash remained silent and was about to speak when I answered for him. "Well remember when I mentioned before that Ash is known for keeping his promises?" I told her, since she wasn't there when Ash had his Gym Battle against Elesa back at Nimbasa City. "The thing is, before we encountered Drew and Serena at the Nimbasa Pokémon Center, I had a small chat with Ash as he seemed down despite winning his match and from what he told me… he said there was a promise he made to a friend that he actually ended up breaking…"

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Dawn in shock at what she was hearing, never before has she heard such a thing in her entire life let alone the fact that Ash would never break a promise to anyone, whether it be human or Pokémon alike.

"She's not joking, I made a promise to one of my Pokémon that I would visit it as soon as I got the GS Ball from Valencia Island…" began Ash, ever since Pikachu mentioned how Ash always keeps his promise, it suddenly reminded him of the promise he had made to one of the first two Pokémon that he ever caught as a Pokémon trainer and how he had not actually kept his word. "Unfortunately, ever since getting the GS Ball and then deciding to take on the Orange League, the Johto League and bringing the GS Ball to Kurt, the Hoenn League, the Sinnoh League and now the Unova League… I have yet to fulfill my promise, even though I said to Falkner while I was in Johto that I would go back to see my old friend again."

There was nothing but pure silence from all of us, we didn't know what to say especially as I already knew the story since we were alone at the time he previously told me and Misty, she figured out right away who this friend is. "This friend of yours, did it have a name?" wondered Anna, hoping that it wasn't a bad time for her to ask that.

"It was Pidgeot…. She was the second Pokémon that Ash caught in the Viridian Forest; the first was a Caterpie that had long since evolved into Metapod and then a Butterfree…." Misty answered the question for Ash, remembering when he used Caterpie to fight Pidgeotto which didn't go to well and she wasn't too happy with him for that even though Pikachu stepped in to help his trainer catch the Kanto Normal/Flying-Type. She even remembers all the times Ash used his Pidgeotto at Kanto such as against Brock at the Pewter City Gym, against her in the Cerulean City Gym, at the S.S. Anne, against AJ and his Sandshrew, against the Tentacools and giant Tentacruel, helping to save the Hidden Village, trying to help save Moe's dock and bring more business to his restaurant, fighting Koga at the Fuchsia City Gym, taking on the Rhydon that Jessie and James used against Ash at the Viridian City Gym and even against the Spearows and Fearow on Route 1, leading to Pidgeotto's evolution into Pidgeot. "Come to think of it, she was one of the most loyal Pokémon Ash had even before her evolution into Pidgeot and she was left with the wild Pidgey and Pidgeotto at Route 1 to keep them safe in case that Fearow which attacked them was to come back."

Needless to say, it was something we were rather surprised by as it seemed Butterfree and Pidgeot were two of Ash's longest serving Pokémon in his entire journey and that I never knew that like when I caught Wurmple as my first Pokémon and how she was the first Pokémon I had that fully-evolved, Ash's Caterpie was his very first Pokémon and was the first he had that fully-evolved as well, especially as Misty then revealed how Butterfree prior to her, Ash and Brock arriving at Saffron City had fallen in love with a beautiful female Pink Butterfree, which didn't like him at all at first even when they tried to help him look better to get her attention, it wasn't until rescuing her and the other Butterfree from the trio of Team Rocket that the pink Butterfree returned Butterfree's affection and left with him to have babies, which it was still hard for Ash to say goodbye to the first Pokémon he caught. "Ash… we had no idea…." began Jeanette, even though she had heard from Relena's fiancé about how Ash had Pidgeotto with him at the Indigo League.

"Yeah, it's like I betrayed her by not coming back to visit when I was done with my travels in Johto, Hoenn, the Battle Frontier and Sinnoh…" he spoke, who could blame him for forgetting his promise to Pidgeot as he does tend to get side-tracked a lot no mater what region he is traveling in.

"It's not your fault Ash, besides I'm sure Pidgeot wouldn't hold any ill will against you for not remembering the promise you made until just now" I reassured him, more so with a soft smile on my face and kissing his forehead to add to this. "In fact, she would be glad to hear that you won the Orange League, the Sinnoh League and the Kanto Battle Frontier when you do see her again once we're back in the Kanto Region."

Ash lit up a bit upon hearing my words, as if they were indeed helping him to feel better about his Pidgeot. "You really mean it?" he asked, just to be certain that it was true, then again it is Ash we are talking about, sure he isn't very smart on things but at least his heart is in the right place.

"She's right Ash, plus at least you aren't as lazy as you were when we were traveling through the Orange Islands, even before Brock decided to become a Pokémon Doctor in Sinnoh from what I heard not too long back" commented Misty, teasing Ash a bit as she knew him longer than I have since they traveled through three regions rather than two like Ash and I did. "If it makes you feel better, I could have my Swanna fly to Kanto and see if she could find Pidgeot at Route 1."

"You don't have to worry about that Misty" came Relena's voice as she, Aurora and Jessica had heard the whole story, which surprised us that they know about the promise that Ash had made to Pidgeot beforehand. "Frost is on his way to Kanto right now, if anything he shouldn't have too much trouble locating your Pidgeot."

"Thanks Relena" said Ash, feeling like a weight has been lifted somewhat even though he may have to speak with Pidgeot to try and make it up to her when she arrives at Unova later. "I really appreciate this kind gesture."

"Anytime Ash" replied Relena, giving my fiancé a soft smile since she helped me and Ash get together during the Battle Frontier, she also figured she could at least try to help Ash fix things with Pidgeot for having broken his previous promise to her from when he was 11 years old.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me… I have an extra female Feebas that I wanted to give to you May" began Misty, revealing a 4th Dream Ball which surprised everyone and I took a glance at the ball then back towards the female Cerulean City Gym Leader. "You don't have a Pokémon from Hoenn so at the very least, I wanted to fix that problem, only if you want to I mean."

There was nothing but silence from me, I needed time to think on that especially as this is the first time anyone other than Jessica and Relena was offering to give me a Pokémon and she did make a good point since the Water-Type Pokémon I do have are Manaphy, Wartortle, Panpour and Oshawott, which means I didn't have any from the Hoenn Region. "Sure, what the hey? If you want, I can trade you my Panpour in order to return the gesture" I said, revealing the Quick Ball containing my Panpour from the Pinwheel Forest.

"Are you sure you want to give me your Panpour?" wondered Misty, somewhat confused by the fact I wanted to make this like a trade of some sort. "Wouldn't you need it for the rest of the Unova League and the Unova Contest?"

"I don't mind really, plus Panpour would make a great addition to your team" I reassured her, since I already sent the Minccino that I caught prior to Ash's mom back when we were in Nacrene, then by the time we left Nimbasa, I had decided to send my non-shiny female DW Snivy to my little brother Max back home in Petalburg City to help him become a real Pokémon Trainer so I figured that it would be the least I can do for my friend. "In fact, it is my first time having a trade with anyone so it couldn't hurt for me to give it a try for once."

Misty was at a loss of word for a few seconds then smiled. "Alright then, you got yourself a deal!" she said, getting a miniature trade machine ready and we each placed our respective Pokéballs onto it before they were sucked in, beginning the trading process, like with Hilda's trade with the rich boy back in the Pinwheel Forest not too long ago, the process lasted at least two minutes before it was completed however it was then when I got my newly acquired Feebas that the Dream Ball popped open as the female DW Fish Pokémon began to evolve, becoming larger and more serpent-like as we all saw that she was holding some kind of scale which Jeanette immediately recognized as a Prism Scale. It was very exciting to see that I was getting one of the few Pokémon that evolved when traded while holding a special item.

After collecting our things and Drew and Serena decided that they wanted to join us in going towards Anville Town, we began the journey to go towards the remote town in the northwest area of the Unova region. I could tell you this, getting to Anville Town was going to be the easy part. What happened there was going to be quite the story to tell. As we backtracked towards Nimbasa City, I noticed that Misty had a look of determination to find that one Pokémon that would make her team a force to be reckoned with. I think I'll save that bit for next time.

Author's note: Thanks once to EmperorDraco7 for contributing to the completion of this chapter. I also would like to thank Miyuki-Tsukiyono for allowing to use her Pokémon OC, Mikki Shiozaki. Thank you to all of you who keep reading, favoring this story and reviewing it. Without all of you, I wouldn't have gotten this far. Stay tuned people.

Victini: '**Don't forget to tell Sparky how you love a certain chick magnet... ME!**' **^_^**

Me: -_-, …...


	25. Chapter 23

Victini: 'Alrighty then. No one is here so this time I can do the disclaimer. Ahem... Sparky does not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. If he did, then things would be a lot different than usual.'

Delia: There, you finally got to do the disclaimer this time. Now, it's time to begin the next part of this story. Please enjoy it as... Um, Victini aren't you a little too close to me.

Victini: [Kissing Delia's hand] 'What ever would make you think tha... OW! OW! OW! OW!'

Ash: [Grabbing Victini by his left ear away from his mother] You maybe May's Pokémon, but you're not hitting on my mother for affection.

23: Kyurem Versus the Swords of Justice

Virizion's POV

'Things had quieted down after Cobalion, Terrakion and I left Ash and his friends. Even though we were away from our humans, we stayed informed as to their movements, thanks in part to Lady Relena's Articuno, Frost. He kept use informed of all of Ash and company's movements and even their struggles. We had even learned that the Pokémon thieves from Pikachu's home region of Kanto had been defeated and that there was an empty vacuum left behind now that this Team Rocket had been defeated and from within by one of their own workers. Aside from learning about Team Rocket's destruction, my fellow Swords of Justice and I kept to training our apprentice, Keldeo. Unfortunately, things were not going well as Keldeo could not call forth his sword. Keldeo felt that battling with us would bring out his sword instead of listening to Cobalion's teachings. We had been doing everything that we could do to teach him. Cobalion had mentioned that maybe he needed to learn the weight of his sword through a life changing experience. I agreed with Cobalion, but felt that maybe Keldeo needed to be with a human like Terrakion, Cobalion and myself. Oh well, I guess all I could really do was just train the young Colt Pokémon. For me, battling against young Keldeo didn't really take much effort since I am a part Grass-type Pokémon and Keldeo is a Water/Fighting-type Pokémon.'

''Cobalion, battle me,'' 'Keldeo requested of the Iron Will Pokémon as both of them raced through the lightning charred forest.'

''This storm is getting too dangerous,'' 'explained Cobalion as he and Keldeo were racing through the forest that Thundurus was destroying.'

''I don't care, I wanna battle,'' 'Keldeo replied as he put out some of the fires himself with his Aqua Jet attack.'

'Letting out a frustrated sigh, Cobalion agreed to Keldeo's request and began to battle with Terrakion and myself looking onward. Keldeo tried with little success to charge at Cobalion. Cobalion then used his signature move, Sacred Sword and effortlessly swatted Keldeo to the side ending the battle quickly.'

''No, it's not over,'' 'Keldeo said as he tried to stand up but was stopped by Cobalion's Sacred Sword close to his throat.'

'The next morning Terrakion, Cobalion and I convened on wither or not to allow Keldeo a battle with Kyurem. As we convened, Keldeo was nearby looking at all the Water Pokémon in the stream passing by. The three of us were evaluating Keldeo's progression in becoming a Sword of Justice. There were some good points to Keldeo's training, but there were also some points that the young Colt Pokémon needed to improve on.'

''Keldeo's gotten a lot stronger since we began training him,'' 'Terrakion said with his usual grin on his face.'

''But do you think that Keldeo is strong enough to have a battle with Kyurem?'' 'I asked the others.'

''No,'' 'Cobalion answered plainly.' ''He still cannot use his Sword.''

''That's true,'' 'I agreed with Cobalion's analysis of Keldeo's progression as a Sword of Justice.'

''Once he understands the true weight of his sword and is able to use it's power,'' 'explained Cobalion,' 'then he will be ready to face Kyurem.''

'It was then that Keldeo approached us as we heard the clopping of his feet. He had been close enough to hear us, but far enough to know when he might be eavesdropping. As the other Swords of Justice and I were planning on discussing his future further, Keldeo's face had a look of determination.'

''I heard everything you said,'' 'Keldeo said to us with much youthful enthusiasm. ''What do you mean 'weight of my sword'?''

''You see...'' 'began Terrakion.'

''Terrakion!'' 'Cobalion exclaimed to my Cavern Pokémon companion as he chided Terrakion for, as some humans would say, sugar-coating an explanation.'

''Truth is, even I don't understand it myself,'' 'Terrakion said as he had a Zorua grin on his face.'

''You must be able to look after yourself,'' 'I calmly explained to Keldeo.'

''I feel strong enough to take on any opponent,'' 'Keldeo said enthusiastically,' ''even the strongest Pokémon.''

'_Really? You think that you could challenge Lord Arceus and win?_' 'Lady Relena's Articuno, Frost, asked Keldeo as he descended from above.' '_I may be the strongest aerial ace in the sky, but even I know my limits and I would not dare try to challenge Lord Arceus. So you should be careful with your words young Colt Pokémon._'

''Lord... Arceus?'' 'asked a confused Keldeo.' ''Who is Lord Arceus?''

''Arceus is the creator of all life,'' 'explained Cobalion.' ''He has created all Pokémon and humans alike. All Pokémon know of Arceus and refer to him respectfully as 'Lord Arceus'.''

'_The humans classify Lord Arceus as the Alpha Pokémon,_' 'added Frost.' '_They even classify him as a Normal-type Pokémon as well. But we know well that Lord Arceus does not always stay as a Normal-type Pokémon and changes his type thanks in part to the 18 plates that he carries with him and his Multitype ability._'

''You see Keldeo, even this Pokémon knows his limits,'' 'Cobalion said to Keldeo.'

''[Sigh] I do miss Ash and the others,'' 'I said to Cobalion and Terrakion.' ''With that Team Rocket group from Pikachu's home region gone, there's no doubt that the Team Plasma humans will try to seize the power left behind by those Pokémon thieves. Or any other group like Team Rocket will try to seize that power and fill the void.''

''Yes, I agree Virizion,'' 'replied Cobalion.' ''Perhaps it is time for us to rejoin our humans and join the battle against Team Plasma.''

A day later

May's POV

'I was not aware that you could use Telepathy like me and Aurora,' Victini said to Michiru as the shinny female Embrace had revealed during a brief stint with Team Plasma that she too could use Telepathy.

'Aren't you forgetting about the Swords of Justice, my small Victory Pokémon companion?' Michiru asked calmly.

"Why did you hide that you could use Telepathy, from me?" Relena asked her trusted Psychic/Fairy-Type friend. "We're like sisters, you can tell me anything."

'I am sorry Relena, but we've been caught up in so much that I never got an opportune time to tell you everything,' explained Michiru.

"It's fine Michiru," Relena said with a smile. "It is really cool that you can use Telepathy."

'I'm glad to hear that you are pleased,' replied Michiru. 'But let's speak of something else.'

"_Why didn't you say something, Abi?_" asked a very familiar voice in a cabin in front of us, our friend Jonathan Seabright.

"_I thought it was because of something that I ate,_" answered Abelia Granger. "_And then I was afraid you wouldn't be happy._"

"Not happy? What would make you think I wouldn't be happy that you're pregnant Abi?" asked Jonathan as he and Abelia were about to walk past us until Jonathan noticed us. "Oh hey there guys."

'We seem to be constantly running into you guys,' observed Victini as he had a grin on his face.

"Indeed it does," agreed Abelia. "Jonathan and I were just about to head to Anville Town to get away for a while. We seem to have encountered Team Plasma quite a bit."

"Ugh... great," mumbled Hilda. "Really getting tired of those guys. We encountered them as we backtracked to Nimbasa City since the Driftveil City gym is closed for now."

"Is it because of the Pokémon World Tournament?" asked Jonathan. "We saw Ash competing and losing in the first round."

'_Ash wouldn't have lost if I was on his team,_' commented Latias as she was still a little depressed that she couldn't help Ash.

'_My sister, you know that the rules of that tournament prevented both of use from participating,_' Meloetta said calmly to Latias.

'_I know that!_' exclaimed Latias. '_It's just... it's just that I felt helpless watching Ash being defeated by that Mikki girl._'

'Do you really believe that if you were on Ash's team that victory would be certain?' Victini questioned Latias.

Before Latias could answer Victini's question Relena and Richie came to us with Aurora padding right behind Richie. For my best friend, she didn't have a cheerful look on her face and it concerned me a lot. It looked as if she had something to tell us and was worried if we would go and blab about it to other people. Even Victini could sense there was something wrong with Relena.

"Guys... I've got something that I need to get off my chest," confessed Relena as she sat down next to me. "But I need to know that you'll keep what I'm about you a secret."

"Of course we will Relena," I said confidently as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

'You know us, Lady Relena. We're good at keeping secrets,' Victini added coolly with a Zorua grin on his face.

"This is something that all of you need to take to the grave with you," Richie said calmly with an expressionless look on his face.

"What kind of secret would require us to take it our graves?" Anna asked quizzically with a confident smile on her face.

"EH?!" most of us asked Relena in shock and surprise as Relena had told us that Aurora was really her biological father.

"I gotta say... that's a really big shock,"Abelia said as she was the first to get over the shock. "I bet Aurora looked very sexy as a human being."

"Abi..." moaned Jonathan as he heard his fiancée say that she thought Relena's father looked sexy as a human being.

"Probably had the body of a very sexy athlete," added Hilda as she had a grin on her face as she joined Abelia's fantasy of picturing Aurora as a human being.

"You do know that we can hear you, right?" Hilbert asked his girlfriend with a dejected tone.

"Oh... oh... well chiseled abs," Anna said as she closed her eyes.

"Sis..." whined Ash as he didn't like that we girls were having a wonderful fantasy.

"Dreamy red eyes and a voice that soothes the soul of any woman," I added happily as I closed my eyes and joined the others.

"You do know that we're engaged to each other, right?" Ash asked me as he, Jonathan and Hilbert each had tears streaming down their faces.

Relena giggled as she saw our fiancés and Hilda's boyfriend were whining and complaining from a little fantasy we had. Victini had a little chuckle in enjoyment and ended up feeling like a bowling ball when Latias comically made him into a bowling ball and threw him down the hallway. Despite that and the little fantasy, it was good to have Jonathan and Abelia with us again. All of us hoped that this time, training would be Team Plasma free. Jonathan and Abelia had informed that in fact they were indeed married to each other and that their marriage certificate hadn't been finalized before they left for Unova, along with telling us that Abelia was pregnant. Hilda, Anna, Relena and I were certainly happy for Abelia. But before we could dig into the Darumaka box lunches that we bought, a loud thud was heard on the roof of the train and some of us set out to investigate. Misty, Relena, Hilda, Abelia and I set out to investigate the thud we heard on the roof of the train.

When we got outside of the car, Pikachu had followed us to offer his keen sense of hearing to aid us. It didn't take long for Pikachu to find the source of the thudding noise. Before us was a small horse-like Pokémon with a red mane, a blue 'coat' and it appeared to be a broken horn on it's head. For Misty, she had a slight grin on her face as she could tell that the beaten up Pokémon was indeed a Water-type Pokémon, her specialty. Misty approached the beaten up Pokémon and began to examine it.

'_Be careful Misty, that Pokémon might try to attack you in its state,_' Pikachu cautioned Misty.

"I think I can handle it, Pikachu," Misty said to Pikachu calmly.

However the Pokémon woke up and used a weak Double Hit to knock Misty away from it.

'It's coming. Kyurem is coming,' the Pokémon said in a panic.

'So you use Telepathy too, I take it,' said Michiru as she came out of her Cherish Ball to help in calming the Pokémon down. 'What do you mean by 'Kyurem is coming'?'

Michiru then began to use her Heal Pulse, beginning to heal the Pokémon. The Pokémon began to feel a little better and feel his strength slowly return. As Michiru continued to heal the Pokémon, a Dragon-type Pokémon then landed on the train as well, apparently in pursuit of the Pokémon that Michiru was tending to. Michiru turned to see the Dragon-type Pokémon and then stopped healing the Pokémon she was tending to.

'What is going on here?' Michiru demanded of the Dragon-type Pokémon. 'Why are you after this Pokémon?'

'Stay out of this Psychic-Type Pokémon,' the Dragon-type Pokémon lashed back calm, cool and collected. 'This is not your battle.'

'You have made it my battle when you came looking to fight a beat up and injured Pokémon,' retaliated Michiru as she took a fighting stance.

The Dragon-type Pokémon then launched what appeared to be a Dragon-type attack at Michiru. Hilda, Misty, Abelia and I looked in horror as the Dragon-type attack connected with Michiru as she didn't even dodge the attack. The Pokémon that Michiru was healing was also horrified to see Michiru getting hit by the Dragon-type attack. However, once the dust settled, we saw that Michiru had mega evolved into her Mega Evolution which surprised Abelia and the beat up Pokémon.

'You know... Kyurem, that really only tickled me and did no damage whatsoever to me,' Michiru said to the Dragon-type Pokémon as it seemed that she recognized the Pokémon.

'WHAT?!' demanded a stared Kyurem. 'No damage? How is that even possible?!'

'You were half right about me being a Psychic-Type Pokémon,' began Michiru. 'But I am more than just a Psychic-Type Pokémon. I am a Psychic/Fairy-Type Pokémon. Oh and a little secret for you, Kyurem, Dragon-type Pokémon with their Dragon-type attacks can inflict no damage whatsoever on any Fairy-type Pokémon.'

Before Kyurem could make a comment about Michiru's statement, we all heard the train whistling as it signaled that we were entering a tunnel. As for Kyurem, he dismounted the train and flew off as the train entered the tunnel completely.

"Do you know what kind of Pokémon that is, Michiru?" Abelia asked Relena's shiny Gardevoir.

'Yes, that's Kyurem, the Boundary Pokémon,' answered Michiru as I pulled out my Pokédex. 'It is a Dragon/Ice-type Pokémon and some claim that it is the strongest Dragon-type Pokémon.'

"_Kyurem, the Boundary Pokémon,_" chirped my Pokédex. "_This Dragon/Ice-type is said to have abilities and powers of both Reshiram and Zekrom when it was created after both Reshiram and Zekrom came into existence. Legends also state that Kyurem was hostile towards both Pokémon and humans and ate them though these claims were never proven. Kyurem has two alternate forms that it gained after absorbing part of both Reshiram and Zekrom's powers._"

Michiru had reverted back to her normal self as we entered the tunnel. Not wanting to leave the beat up Pokémon, Michiru used her Psychic attack lift the beat up Pokémon and we all went back to rejoin the others. I had also hoped that Victini would know about the Pokémon and maybe even something about Kyurem too.

'Ooo, Kyurem is a dangerous Pokémon to cross,' Victini said to me and the others after Abelia, Misty and I explained what happened. 'Your Pokédex is right about there being legends of Kyurem eating Pokémon and humans, but those legends are not true. He is a bit territorial, but not once have I heard of Kyurem eating humans and Pokémon... Well, humans at least anyway.'

"And what about this Pokémon lying here?" Jonathan asked Victini.

'This is Keldeo, the Colt Pokémon,' answered Victini. 'He's a Water/Fighting-type Pokémon. But this one is young and I certainly sense youthful enthusiasm and a bit of arrogance in him.

'The last Keldeo served alongside the Swords of Justice proudly,' continued Victini. 'His dominion was primarily the coastal area and guarded the Pokémon who lived there from poachers and even human pirates too.'

"Where does Kyurem live?" I asked my silly little buddy.

'_Last we heard of Kyurem's whereabouts was an old mine that some humans had dug into,_' reported Katsumi as she joined the conversation. '_No human has ever gone there ever since Kyurem drove the humans out of there._'

At the Pokémon Center in Anville Town, we got more information Keldeo and even a little bit of info on the Boundary Pokémon as well. Apparently, Victini was right about Keldeo as he was a young Pokémon as Nurse Joy confirmed he was in training to become a new member of the Swords of Justice. Before my silly little buddy could even think about making a move to hit on Nurse Joy, Katsumi began to cry out in pain as she was ready to give birth to her offspring. After four hours, Victini came out with a beaming smile on his face as he was now a proud father to healthy beautiful baby Victini. Katsumi gave birth to a daughter and son and was proud of herself that she gave birth to beautiful and healthy offspring. She even liked all of the attention she was getting from all of us female members of the traveling group. The Nurse joy said that Katsumi and her babies had to stay at the Pokémon Center for a few days for monitoring. Katsumi informed Nurse Joy that she was fine with the arrangements since we weren't really leaving the area until the Pokémon World Tournament ended.

"Oh boy, let's dig in to these Darumaka boxed lunches," Ash said happily as he was hungry and eager to get into the Darumaka boxed lunches.

Keldeo had explained earlier that he challenged Kyurem to a battle and prematurely called himself one of the Swords of Justice. We listened to Keldeo's story as he went on about how he had gone against the instructions of his mentors, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion to not go and battle Kyurem. He at first tried to leave out certain details, but Relena made sure that he left nothing out. Once Hilda heard that Cobalion was frozen in ice back at Kyurem's hideout, she was devastated to hear that and was about to call on Zekrom before Hilbert had to restrain her quickly. Once Hilda was restrained and calmed down we then dug into the Darumaka boxed lunches and began eating them. Tee hee, for Ash, myself and Keldeo, we began wolfing down the boxed lunch and slightly choked on our food after not taking a drink of water. Misty, Erika and her husband Ilex each let out a long sigh after we recovered from briefly choking on our food.

'I think that disgraced Dragon-type girl would say something like, 'What a couple of kids',' Victini said with a grin on his face.

'Yes, I agree with you as well,' replied Michiru after munching on part of her Darumaka boxed lunch. 'It is a shame that she left over something so petty as Ash and May wanting to be romantic with each other.'

'You're teaching me new moves?' a confused Keldeo asked Relena. 'The moves I have work just fine.'

Relena shook her head as she pulled out two TMs from her home region and replied, "But these moves are useful and can help you fight Kyurem. I'll teach you Scald and Iron Head. These two attacks are powerful and can be very useful in dealing with Ice-type Pokémon."

'They can help me out?' asked a dumbfounded Keldeo. 'Why didn't you say so earlier?'

'I believe that she did say that, young Colt Pokémon,' Michiru informed Keldeo.

Before Relena could begin teaching Keldeo either Scald or Iron Head, she turned her head towards the large lake that the Anville Town was bordered next to as if she could sense something approaching. Studying the sky in the direction of the lake, Relena then closed her eyes and sensed the state of the lake. After taking a few minutes to sense the lake, we were a bit concerned if something bad was coming and could sense it from the look on Relena's face. Keldeo cocked his head in puzzlement as he had no clue as to what was going on.

'He's coming isn't he, Relena?' Michiru asked her trainer... uh, I mean her companion.

"Yes, Kyurem is getting closer by the minute," answered Relena before looking to Keldeo. "I better teach you these moves before Kyurem gets here."

'Thanks for teaching me Scald and Iron Head,' Keldeo said to Relena as we left Katsumi and her baby Victinis to be cared for by Nurse Joy.

"It's my pleasure Keldeo," replied Relena as we were a couple blocks away from the Pokémon Center until little pellets of snow came falling down on or around us.

We looked up only to see big snowflake-looking Pokémon. Fearing that Kyurem was close behind, we bolted off to try and get from them. However our efforts proved futile as more snowflake-like Pokémon arrived and were chasing after us. Then Abelia stopped running and decided to take a stand against the Ice-type Pokémon.

"I don't fear the cold," began Abelia, "so why we should fear these Pokémon?"

"Abi, what are you doing?" Jonathan asked his wife as she produced a Cherish Ball and Friend Ball containing two of her Bug-type Pokémon.

"Go on without me," Abelia instructed us. "I'll hold off these Ice-type Pokémon for you. Let's go Genesect and Beedrill!"

'_Ready Mistress Abelia,_' replied Abelia's Beedrill taking a fighting stance and revealing that he carried a mega stone around his neck.

'I am ready Bug Tamer,' Genesect said to Abelia taking his fighting stance too.

"Alright Beedrill, let's show those Ice-type Pokémon that Michiru isn't the only one with a Mega evolved form!" exclaimed Abelia as the mega stone she had on an left anklet began to glow and resonated with Beedrill's mega stone.

The last thing I saw was Abelia's Beedrill changing shape and looking more like a wasp than a bee. After seeing Abelia's mega evolved Beedrill launching a volley of powerful Sludge Bomb attacks at the Ice-type Pokémon, the rest of us kept running from the snowflake-like Ice-type Pokémon. For Jonathan and Misty, they were wondering why they felt like they had to run away as their Water-type Pokémon were resistant to Ice-type Pokémon and both of the being Water-type trainers felt as they were going to make a stand. But before we could even consider fighting back, Anna pulled out her Pokédex to see what kind of Pokémon the Ice-type Pokémon were known as.

"_Cryogonal, the Crystallizing Pokémon,_" reported Anna's Pokédex. "_This Ice-type Pokémon from the Unova region is said to have originated from arctic skies and floats down to drop snow on the ground. Cryogonal also makes chains from the crystals of ice that hang from the corners of it's mouth and uses them to ensnare its prey._"

"Come on Jonathan, we can take these Ice-types down no problem," Misty said to Jonathan with a confident grin on her face.

However before a grin could form on Jonathan's face, two of the Cryogonal began charging up an attack as they glowed with some solar energy. Once they were charged up, the two Cryogonal then fired their attacks at us, above our heads and caused some damage.

"Yikes!" exclaimed a startled Misty.

"Oh man," moaned Jonathan. "They know Solarbeam!"

"Well, two can play that game," snarled Misty as she hefted a Pokéball and a Dive Ball. "Go Gyarados and Octillery!"

Misty's two said Pokémon came of their respective Pokéballs and looked as if they were primed for battle. Misty's Octillery looked to the Cryogonal and shook it's head. As for her Gyarados, he wasn't in the best of moods and looked as if he was ready to rampage through the town. His mood wasn't because of Misty calling him out, but more like seeing the Ice-type Pokémon in front of him and apparently must've had a beef against Ice-type Pokémon.

'_Ice-types, Ice-types, ICE-TYPES!_' snarled Misty's Gyarados. '_There just had to be Ice-type Pokémon here._'

'_The way I see it, Gyarados, as long as they don't have that Freeze Dry attack we've been hearing rumors about, we'll be fine,_' Octillery said his Water/Flying-type companion.

'_Yeah, good point,_' agreed Gyarados. '_That Freeze Dry attack is supposed to be super effective on us Water-types._'

"Less talking and battling, guys," Misty called to her two Water-type Pokémon. "Take aim at the Cryogonal and use your Flamethrower at them!"

'_Gladly,_' acknowledged both Gyarados and Octillery with an icy tone before firing the Fire-type move they knew.

Both Fire-type attacks connected with precise accuracy as some of the Cryogonal fainted and fell in defeat. However, the victory was brief and short lived as more Cryogonal began taking the place of the Cryogonal that fell in defeat. Keldeo felt as if he should try to help both Water-type trainers and then fired a blistering hot Scald attack connecting with a four of the Cryogonal, causing a burn to the Ice-type that survived it.

'Wow, I gotta say that Scald attack is very powerful,' Keldeo said with a grin on his face. 'I think it's a keeper.'

"Glad you like it," Misty said before producing another Pokéball. "Kingdra! I need your help!"

Out of the Pokéball came the final stage evolved form of Horsea. Kingdra then looked up and saw all of the Cryogonal and shook his head. I knew that Kingdra was a powerful Pokémon because it was a Water/Dragon-type, but I had wondered if Misty's Kingdra could handle itself against the horde of Cryogonal. Narrowing his eyes, the Water/Dragon-type Dragon Pokémon was ready to fight.

"Alright Kingdra, use Dragon Breath!" Misty exclaimed with gusto.

'_You've got it,_' Kingdra calmly acknowledged before launching the Dragon-type attack against the Cryogonal.

The Dragon-type attack connected with more of the Cryogonal knocking out about half a dozen of the Cryogonal. Jonathan and Misty then looked to the rest of us with scowls on their faces.

"What are you guys doing?" Jonathan asked us.

"Take Keldeo and get out of here," Misty ordered us and Jonathan.

"No, you take Keldeo and get out of here," replied Jonathan as he hefted a Cherish Ball. "I've got a secret weapon that can help fight back."

Before Misty could protest, Jonathan threw the Cherish Ball up and out came a strange quadruped Pokémon with what looked like an almost perfect ring on it's back. The Pokémon was almost all red with spots of orange and blue. It was an amazing Pokémon to see and wondered how Jonathan managed to get such a powerful Pokémon.

'I am ready to fight, tamer of Water-types,' announced the strange Pokémon as it seemed as though it had Telepathy too.

"Volcanion, you can call me by my name," Jonathan informed his red Pokémon. "But we'll worry about that later. Use Steam Eruption on those Cryogonal!"

'As you wish,' acknowledged the red Pokémon apparently called Volcanion by Jonathan.

Volcanion then began to fire lances of blistering hot water, engulfing some of the Cryogonal in that hot steamy fog. Jonathan and Volcanion then gave us each a slight nod and sent us on our way. Along the way to escape, Hilbert got separated from us as he and his Pokémon broke off to fight another group of Cryogonal that tried to swarm us with overwhelming numbers. As we left Hilbert fight off the group of Cryogonal, we saw him calling on his Dragon-type Pokémon, Reshiram and battling hard. After shaking off our pursuers, we decided to go underground through the unused subway system. Traveling through the unused subway tunnel, Keldeo forcefully opened a locked door and we continued through the tunnel, unaware that our pursuers had come into the tunnel and were following us. It was then that Victini twitched his ears and heard the Cryogonal coming. My Pokémon and I then decided that we would stay put where we were and make a stand to buy Ash and others time to get Keldeo out of the city. Ash, Cilan, Misty and Hilda proceeded ahead without us as Victini, Manaphy and I dug in and readied ourselves for a fight that we were hopelessly outnumbered for.

'Okay, I'm ready to fight,' Victini said to me and Manaphy as the Cryogonal were coming. 'At least Kyurem can't come down here. He's too big to fit down here.'

After an intense hour of fighting, the Cryogonal gave up as both Jonathan and Abelia Seabright came to our aid with their Pokémon and I was glad that they came. Both Victini and Manaphy were getting tired from fighting and even my other Pokémon were exhausted from the fighting. My Sawsbuck had been overwhelmed by the Cryogonal as they used numbers to overpower her. My shiny Venipede managed to evolve into a Whirlipede and my shiny Taillow even evolved into Swellow. Abelia encouraged me to evolve my shiny Whirlipede in her final stage evolved form, Scolipede. Seeing as how Abelia herself owned a Scolipede and other Bug-types, I could see why she was encouraging me to own another Bug-type... or two. I didn't have any problem owning another Bug-type Pokémon, but I didn't want to go crazy. After recalling my exhausted Pokémon and bringing both Victini and Manaphy to my arms and left shoulder, we quickly moved to rejoin the others. Both of the Seabrights told me that they saw that their fighting had caused some damage to the areas they were fighting in and had to clear out before Officer Jenny had showed up. Even Hilbert and his other Pokémon had to clear out before the police arrived on scene.

As the four of us reached the end of the tunnel, we saw that a giant blimp had gone missing from the museum we entered and could see flashes of bright blue and lances of ice being fired to and from the blimp as the fight in the sky was particularly fierce. After watching the exchange of fire, water, ice and a couple of Solarbeam attacks, Kyurem joined the battle and ended it quickly as he briefly froze the blimp in search for Keldeo and then breaking off after apparently not finding the young Colt Pokémon in the blimp. Hilbert then called out Reshiram and the four of us got on and flew towards the falling blimp. As we approached the blimp, we saw Misty's Gyarados flying in the sky and Misty mounting Gyarados. The red head then joined us as we followed the trail of ice on some train tracks that showed an indication of a fierce battle. Along the way, we saw a few Cryogonal that were scattered and knocked out from Rock-type attacks. We could only surmise that Cilan's Crustle must've used his Rock Wrecker attack to take them down... maybe a Stone Edge attack or two along the way.

After we retrieved Cilan and his two Pokémon, we eventually caught up to Ash and Hilda and saw them trying to get the Swords of Justice free from their icy prison. Unfortunately, Keldeo was not with both Ash and Hilda. The Colt Pokémon was showing signs of fear and was still trembling even when we passed him.

"I'm coming Master Cobalion," Hilda said frantically, using all of her strength with the iron rod she found and using to bash the thick icy prison.

Ash and Hilda's effort to free the trapped Swords of Justice didn't go unnoticed as Kyurem could hear everything and then came out of a chamber where he resided. Kyurem surveyed the area and then saw the small flashes of fire and one cute little Pikachu's tail glowing as he used his Iron Tail to help break through the ice.

'Who are you?' Kyurem demanded of Ash and Hilda as he ignored the rest of us on the platform above. 'Neither of you humans are a Sword of Justice. Get out of here.'

"No way," shot back Ash. "We're going to free the Swords of Justice and you can't stop us."

Kyurem responded back by using one of his signature attacks that Victini informed was called Glaciate. The Ice-type attack wasn't as strong as Victini thought it would be as it only got Ash to briefly drop the iron rod he was using to try and smash through the thick ice. Ash was quick to pick the rod back up and return to his task at hand. When the Boundary Pokémon saw that reasoning didn't deter Ash, he was about to resort to drastic measures. Kyurem then launched his Dragon Pulse at Ash his means of forcing my fiancé to stop trying to free the Swords of Justice. As the Dragon Pulse attack screamed towards Ash, a very familiar shiny female Emotion Pokémon came out of a Cherish Ball and blocked the Dragon-type attack from ever connecting with Ash. Joining the fight, Relena came riding on the back of her father with Richie riding on the back of his shiny Raikou.

'Hello there Kyurem,' Michiru said telepathically with a grin. 'Shall we continue where we left off?'

'I have more than just Dragon-type moves to use against you, Psychic/Fairy-Type of the Hoenn region,' Kyurem informed Relena's shiny female Gardevoir.

'My kind may be originally from the Hoenn region,' shot back Michiru. 'But my home is in the Atlantica Islands and I am an Atlantica Islands-born Pokémon.'

'Hmm... I see,' replied Kyurem. 'Very well then, Psychic/Fairy-Type of the Atlantica Islands. I need a worthy opponent since Keldeo has run away. Facing you could be the best idea for a warm up.

Michiru narrowed her eyes at the Boundary Pokémon as he used his power make his arena come to life and then said, 'Pass through the gate. And we shall see who is stronger. The strongest Dragon-type Pokémon or a Psychic/Fairy-Type Pokémon.'

The shiny female Emotion Pokémon then looked to Relena and asked, 'Shall we... Relena? My sister?'

"Yeah, let's go my dear sister," answered Relena as she dismounted from Aurora's back and joined Michiru as both of them passed through the icy gate that Kyurem had created.

With beautiful shades of blue, Kyurem's icy arena came to life as he was ready to face Michiru in battle. The Boundary Pokémon was certainly surprised to see Relena coming with Michiru as both of them entered the arena gracefully. It was puzzling for the Dragon/Ice-type to see a human coming into the arena alongside a Pokémon.

'What is this?' asked a puzzled Kyurem. 'Do you bring your human to fight your battles for you?'

'My human and I fight together as one,' answered Michiru. 'We fight with our hearts beating as one. We fight with one mind and one heart... together.'

'Fascinating,' replied Kyurem. 'Then I guess this shall be an excellent opportunity to test and see the strength of your bond.'

Some of us watching had an interest in seeing the battle to come as one other person had come and began to watch the fight himself. He was the same person who wanted to challenge Ash to a battle back in Nimbasa City and in Driftveil City as well. N looked intently at Relena as he saw her with Michiru striding through the icy gate to battle Kyurem.

Unfortunately, something unexpected happened as a powerful blast hit Kyurem from behind and we were all shocked to see that it actually hurt him…. Then we heard an evil laugh as three men in black pirate-like outfits save for the hats and are sleeveless. "What the?!" exclaimed Relena, not liking the idea of these three unknown men and the way it looks, they seem to be planning to get their hands on Kyurem no matter what the costs are.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but Lord Ghetsis has instructed us with the task of acquiring Kyurem and it seems you humans have saved us the trouble of going to the Giant Chasm to capture him" began one of the three men, his mouth wasn't shown but the darkened expression meant that they were willing to give us a hell of a lot of trouble and Kyurem found itself being sealed within a powerful ball of light that Ash recognized as one that Giovanni had Mewtwo trapped in back at Johto. "Unfortunately, you won't be around to stop us… Go Absol!"

A familiar Dark-Type Disaster Pokemon from the Hoenn Region was released into battle but these men weren't done yet as they also let out a Banette also from Hoenn and finally an unknown third Pokemon that we aren't familiar with, all three of which had an evil expression on their faces. "What kind of Pokemon is that?" asked Ash, taking his Pokédex out to learn more about it.

_Accelgor, the Shell Out __Pokémon__ and the evolved form of Shelmet_ said Dexter, revealing the Pokédex entry to Ash. _Accelgor is much more agile once it evolves and loses its shell, allowing it to move like a ninja when battling._

"You think we're scared of you guys?" demanded Abelia, with her Beedrill and Scoliepede by her side, both she and Relena were about ready to Mega Evolve their Pokemon but the men grinned, the ones who sent out Absol and Banette revealing their Keystones on the back of their respective gloves much to our horror. "It can't be!"

"But it can and it is, let the Shadow Triads demonstrate what real power is!" said the leader of the group as the Keystones activated as did the Mega Stones that the Banette and Absol were holding, causing a bright light to surround them as they began to Mega Evolve. Once the transformation was completed, the Banette now had several additional zippers: one running diagonally across its face, one on each hand and another on its body. The first zipper ran from the Banette's left eye, to the tip of its central spike. The other three are all unzipped, revealing parts of Banette's newly Mega Evolved purple body. Its three long purple fingers and body revealing two pointed, purple legs are visible. Its zigzagging ribbons became somewhat erect, and now had two zipper rings around it and a short zipper on the tip, it gains four further spikes: One on the top and bottom of each hand and one on each hip. However, it had long since lost its brush-like tail.

Absol on the other hand, has longer fur than it did before its Mega Evolution and its fur was longer overall, and the increased energy coursing through its body makes the fur at the back of its mane stand on end, so that it appears to have wings. The spikes on its heels and elbows grow larger, and the fur in these areas became longer as well. Its sickle-shaped horn widened, while an additional, smaller horn appeared on the opposite side of its head. Its tail had now changed into a more saw-like shape, and the oval marking on its forehead was now a rounded triangle.

"How in the world…." muttered Relena, she and Michiru were at a loss of words at the sight of the two newly Mega Evolved Pokemon that these men known as the Shadow Triads had, even all of us were shocked at the fact that Team Plasma somehow knew about Mega Evolution.

"Surprised, did you think that you two were the only ones with the ability to Mega Evolve your Pokemon?" laughed the younger member of the Shadow Triads. "Now watch as we show you how real power is used!"

Mega Absol had the same evil expression that the Shadow Triads and both Accelgor and Mega Banette had then extended the claws on its front right paw. '_If you humans surrender Kyurem and both Reshiram and Zekrom…. I won't have to sharpen my claws on you!_' This comment shocked us all as these Shadow Triads seem to know we have Reshiram and Zekrom with us but with no idea as to how they are aware of it.

'No, that won't happen!' yelled Michiru, mega evolving into Mega Gardevoir then proceeded in unleashing a devastating Dazzling Gleam attack to see if she can take out all three Pokemon at once, however despite the attack making contact, it seems that the Shadow Triads had their Pokemon defend themselves with Protect. 'What the?!'

"Absol use Shadow Claw on that worthless Gardevoir!"

"Banette, Psychic attack on Beedrill!"

Both Mega Evolutions grinned evilly as they unleashed two devastating attacks, one that badly injured Michiru and the other which knocked Abelia's Mega Beedrill out in one hit, reverting him back into his normal form. "Michiru!" exclaimed Relena, shocked to see her faithful companion badly injured by a single attack and tried to reach her but I stopped her.

"Are you insane Relena?!" I yelled, trying to keep her from throwing her life away against these three assassins that Ghetsis sent at us especially as they are proving to be much stronger than the standard Team Plasma Grunts that we fought prior. "We don't know the true extent of their power right now!"

The older member of the Shadow Triads grinned despite his mouth being hidden. "It seems your friend is right, little girl…" he commented, much to Relena's anger and Michiru slowly getting back up as that Shadow Claw attack from Mega Absol seemed to have banged her up big time which was a sign that the attack did critical damage, not being sure if she would be able to withstand another hit. "As for the Hero of Truth and the Heroine of Ideas… we advise you to surrender both Reshiram and Zekrom."

Hilbert and Hilda were shocked, how is it that the Shadow Triads knew who they were to begin with let alone the fact that they have their respective ancestor's Pokemon. "Even if you know who we are… there's no way we're going to give you both Pokémon!" Hilda lashed at the three men that we were going up against.

"She's right!" added Hilbert; the two were getting ready to take on the Shadow Triads even though the odds were against us right now with their signature Legendary Dragon-Type Pokemon to help them out until Keldeo arrives. "We'll fight you to the bitter end!"

"So unwise…." said the leader of the Triads, as large group of Team Plasma grunts appeared to assist their commanders, each one releasing a Weezing, a Krokorok, a Watchog, a Garbodor, a Scrafty, a Liepard, a Golbat, a Seviper., a Whirlipede, a Raticate, a Muk, an Amoongus, a Drapion, a Krookodile and a Scolipede which surrounded all of us. "Still think that you can take us on?"

"Ready Pikachu?" Ash asked his body and I nodded to Victini as he jumped from my shoulders, and then got ready to make our move though Relena didn't like the idea of us taking on the Team Plasma members let alone the Shadow Triads. "Use Electro Ball now!"

"Use Shadow Ball!" I ordered, both our Pokemon let out their powerful moves but we didn't notice that the Shadow Triads were actually expecting us to make such a move.

"Shadow Ball!" ordered two of the three members, with Mega Banette and Mega Absol unleashing their own Shadow Ball attacks, which collided not only with the Electro Ball but also the Shadow Ball that Victini had unleashed, unfortunately for us… their Shadow Balls proved to be even stronger, overpowering both the Electro Ball and Victini's Shadow Ball before striking both Pokemon head on much to our horror as they were easily beaten in one hit. "Weak, and to think that our forces had a hard time against you…"

"Those two Mega Evolutions are unstoppable…." began Hilda, wondering if they could even beat these guys as the Shadow Triads were not done just yet, especially with Accelgor being yet to attack while the only Pokemon not able to Mega Evolve but that didn't make it less of a threat. "We can't win…"

"That's right, Accelgor… proceed to wipe them out with Hyper Beam! Starting with the girl carrying that Manaphy" ordered the Shadow Triad member with the Bug-Type as it prepared to use one of the two strongest Normal-Type attacks, which was aimed at me and everyone else including Ash were shocked though my fiancé would be damned before he let me die, about ready to take the hit with his own body until something unexpected happened… a combination of Flamethrower and Air-Slash came from out of nowhere, striking the Accelgor right where it stood. "What?!"

We all questioned where this combination came from as a familiar female trainer from Crimson City appeared; standing by her side was a Samurott, a Mawile and her shiny Whimsicott. "Jeanette?!" asked Ash in surprise seeing the elegant trainer was also present.

"I'm not the only one here!" smiled Jeanette, gesturing to something flying down from the sky and unleashed a devastating Fire Spin attack that caught the Shadow Triads, the Team Plasma members and even their own Pokemon off-guard though as the image became clearer, we saw that the Pokemon felt familiar as I know only one Pokemon that knew both Flamethrower and Fire Spin.

"No way, is that Charizard?" began Ash, with Pikachu in his arms… more so as the male Fire/Flying-Type soon let out a Dragon Pulse attack that Mega Absol barely managed to protect itself from with the Protect attack but it was all a diversion as the violet-haired trainer knew that Kyurem needed to be freed from that orb before the Shadow Triads could place it under their control.

"Alright Samurott… use Razor Shell!" ordered Jeanette, her female Formidable Pokemon complied by slicing one of the two machines in half with her powerful Razor Shell attack, one that made Dewott's own look like nothing, especially as Mawile assisted with her Iron Head attack to take out the remaining robot which further served to piss the Shadow Triads and their forces off. "You ready Mawile?"

'_You bet I am!_' said Mawile, her Mega Stone and the Mega Charm around her trainer's neck began glowing as the female Steel/Fairy-Type found herself Mega Evolving herself with the transformation giving her a second set of jaws protruding from the back of her head and both sets now having a spiky tuft or hair. The ear-like extensions on her head became longer and received tips with two points. The fur on her legs soon turned magenta with the female Deceiver Pokemon having longer fur on her aims with magenta markings around her writs. '_Michiru and Abelia's Beedrill aren't the only ones who can Mega Evolve you know!_'

With that said, she used her Flash Cannon attack right at the opposing Garbodor, knocking it out as retaliation for the unfairness that Team Plasma had tried to do and for trying to kill us as well… but we know that we will not stand by and do nothing.

"Let's even the odds, go Ivysaur! Use Magical Leaf!" Ash sent out his male Seed Pokemon to assist Charizard and Mega Mawile, using Magical Leaf to hit the opposing Pokemon that we were all up against while I decided to give my Oshawott and shiny Sylveon Amethyst the chance to get some action themselves especially with them striking a nearly Krokorok and Raticate with their respective Razor Shell and Return attacks. Meloetta decided not to stand and watch, assisting us by turning into her Pirouette form via her Relic Song then proceeded to use Close Combat to bring down the nearby Krookodile.

As we prepared ourselves for our battle, Jeanette knew that Michiru and Kyurem could use some healing up, having her Chansey sent into the fray from her Safari Ball so she can use her Heal Pulse attack to better fix up both Pokemon. Fortunately, the process didn't  
>take too long and both Pokemon were fully-healed much to Relena's relief. "Thank you so much Jeanette!" said Relena, grateful that our friend had managed to save us at the last second then turned her fury towards the members of Team Plasma.<p>

"Michiru, use Dazzling Gleam!"

"You too Meloetta!"

"Use your Dazzling Gleam too Whimsicott!"

"And same with you Manaphy and Amethyst!"

The four Pokemon had their eyes glowing bright pink as they unleashed a combined Dazzling Gleam that with this power, managed to knock out the opposing Pokemon all in one move, as payback for what happened to Abelia's Beedril, Ashy's Pikachu and my silly little buddy but now we have to deal with Accelgor, Mega Absol and Mega Banette since they protected themselves with the Protect attack once more. "Guess the situation has changed!" said Jeanette with some venom in her voice as the Shadow Triad was on their own against us, especially as Kyurem was furious at the humans who tried to capture him.

"You may have survived this round…. However, next time we won't be so merciful…" said the leader of the Shadow Triads as he and his brothers knew when it was time to retreat along with the Team Plasma members with them, who had all recalled their fallen Pokemon before escaping with a puff of smoke from a Smoke Ball that the younger member of the Shadow Triads had.

'_Let's hope we never have to see those guys again…_' began Manaphy, though we were still wondering if there were other trainers with Mega Evolutions that we weren't aware of especially as if the Shadow Triads could make their Pokemon stronger like Relena, Abelia and Jeanette did then we will be in huge trouble.

'_We may need to fight them again but we'll have to become stronger if they were able to badly injure Sister Michiru earlier and defeat Brother Pikachu, Brother Victini and Beedrill easily unlike any other opponents aside from AJ's Sandshrew_' explained Ivysaur, still he was just as surprised to see that Charizard had arrived at Unova and more so greeting Ash by burning him with a Flamethrower attack. '_Guess some things never change…'_

"You okay Ash?" asked Hilbert as he and Hilda saw my fiancé falling to the ground after being hit by Charizard's Flamethrower, even everyone else was shocked by this but I laughed a bit as Misty had previously told me that it was Charizard's way a showing affection for his trainer whenever they had a reunion with one another.

"Don't worry, Ashy's used to it and Charizard usually burns him with Flamethrower as a means of greeting him whenever he comes back on my fiancé's team from the Charific Valley" I explained to the others with us while I was still surprised that Charizard knows Dragon Pulse now but figured it could be from his training in the Charific Valley from Liza plus I am sure Charizard will be shocked when he sees Ivysaur and learning how he evolved from Bulbasaur against Georgia's Beartic.

Kyurem however, knew that there was unfinished business to take care of as he glanced at Michiru, who glanced back silently, knowing that they have a battle to have.

'Now where were we?' he asked himself though we all had a feeling what he was going to do as he prepared to use his Blizzard attack against the shiny female Psychic/Fairy-Type. 'Oh yes, take this!'

Before Michiru could dodge the Ice-type attack, Relena stepped in front and created some sort of shield using the snow and ice around her. The ice shield that Relena made using her magic power certainly startled us and Kyurem. … More like Kyurem was upset that Relena was interfering with the battle.

'What are you doing human?' Kyurem demanded of Relena.

"I'm sorry," answered Relena, "but Michiru is too banged up to fight and I'm concerned for her health and safety."

'Relena, I can handle this battle,' the shiny female Emotion Pokémon assured her companion. 'I just don't have the strength to mega evolve right now. But I can still fight even when I'm not mega evolved.'

Knowing that Michiru was confident and right, Relena let out a sigh and accepted Michiru's stance. She stepped to the side and was ready for the fight to be finished. Michiru then eyed Kyurem as she took her fighting stance against the Dragon/Ice-type. The Boundary Pokémon shot Michiru a glare as he looked to the beat up Emotion Pokémon. Before Kyurem could charge in at Michiru, the shiny Emotion Pokémon then put him to sleep using her Hypnosis attack, stopping Kyurem dead in his tracks.

'Better for me to make the follow through before he wakes up,' Michiru said to herself aloud.

"Yeah, use Dream Eater," Relena ordered Michiru.

'Exactly what I was thinking,' agreed Michiru as she used the Psychic-Type attack quickly. 'Yummy, those dreams were certainly a hefty meal.

After using the Dream Eater attack, some of Michiru's wounds began to heal as she regained health after eating Kyurem's dreams.

'I think I'll go in for seconds,' Michiru said as she used her Dream Eater attack once again and ate more of Kyurem's dreams and healing herself some more. 'Delicious!'

"Michiru, use Nightmare and let's see if we can't inflict some damage while he's sleeping," Relena suggested to her shiny Gardevoir.

'Good thinking Relena,' agreed Michiru as she began to ready the said Ghost-type attack.

Unfortunately, Michiru wasn't able to use the Nightmare attack as Kyurem woke up after that second Dream Eater attack sapped him of his energy. The Boundary Pokémon narrowed his eyes at the female Emotion Pokémon as he saw that most of Michiru's scars and bruises had healed up from the use of both Dream Eater attacks.

'I see you helped yourself to some of my energy and used it to heal yourself,' remarked a displeased Kyurem.

'As the humans say, 'You snooze, you lose',' Michiru shot back playfully.

Kyurem gave a smirk as he had a plan cooked up in his mind. He fired a Dragon Pulse attack at Michiru as it seemed as he planed using Dragon Pulse as a smokescreen. However before the Dragon-type attack could reach Michiru, a Water Pulse attack came from above as it powered through the Dragon Pulse enough to cancel out both attacks. Everyone then looked up and saw that Keldeo had finally come to face Kyurem. The Water/Fighting-type Colt Pokémon then leapt down from the balcony and was determined to face his fear and confess the truth to Kyurem.

'That's enough Michiru,' Keldeo said Relena's companion. 'Time for me to finish what I started.'

Michiru and Relena then looked to Kyurem for his decision. I could tell from Relena's body language that she wanted Kyurem to end his fight with Michiru. She was nervous and a little upset that Michiru wanted to continue fighting. For both Relena and Michiru, the verdict would be Kyurem's decision and the Boundary Pokémon's decision alone.

'What say you, Boundary Pokémon?' Michiru asked Kyurem. 'Shall we consider this battle a draw for now?'

Eying Keldeo, Kyurem then looked to Relena and Michiru as Relena's Gardevoir briefly collapsed and was helped up by Relena. Seeing Michiru's state and then looking back to the Colt Pokémon, Kyurem was definitely eager to finish the battle that Keldeo started. The Dragon/Ice-type gave Relena and Michiru a slight nod as he replied, 'For now our battle shall be considered as a draw. You and I shall face each other again, Emotion Pokémon.'

'I look forward to that day, Boundary Pokémon,' said Michiru before being helped out of Kyurem's arena.

"Come on Michiru, lets get out of Keldeo's way and back over to Father," Relena said as she helped her shiny Gardevoir over to Aurora as he came to the entrance of Kyurem's ice made arena.

'You were a bit reckless there, Michiru,' observed Aurora. 'Especially after those Team Plasma humans came and suddenly overpowered you.'

'They just got me on a bad day and I dropped my guard,' Michiru said as she was quick to explain away why those three goons were able to overpower her.

"Uh huh, sure that's the case," Relena said as and Aurora brought Michiru back to the side. "But how were they able to obtain the ability to mega evolve?"

'My guess is that they obtained the ability from those wicked humans calling themselves Team Flare,' said Volcanion as he let himself of the Cherish Ball that Jonathan had him in. 'Two of those Flare humans had Keystones and the mega stones for Absol and Banette.

'Now then, about these three trapped in this ice,' Volcanion continued as he looked to see Pikachu, Pignite and Boldore still chipping away to free the Swords of Justice even after the battle with the Shadow Triad. 'Stand aside you three. I can melt this ice no problem.'

'_O-okay,_' acknowledged a panting Pikachu as he was too worn from the fighting earlier.

Both Pignite and Boldore looked to the Fire/Water-type Pokémon and backed away without question. Then Volcanion began producing really hot steam and directed it at the thick ice. For the Fire/Water-type, melting the ice didn't take long as even the three Swords of Justice were using their own power to break free of the ice. After a few more minutes, the three Swords of Justice broke free from their icy prison.

"Master Cobalion!" exclaimed Hilda as she was very happy to see the Iron Will Pokémon free and hugged him.

'Hilda? What are you doing here?' asked a startled Cobalion. 'Where is Zekrom? He has not deserted you, has he?'

"No Master Cobalion," answered Hilda as she pulled out of the hug. "Zekrom is still with me."

'Hey, great to see you again Hilbert,' Terrakion said as he was happy to see the Hero of Truth.

'Ash,' Virizion just said to my fiancé.

'What brings all of you here to this area?' Cobalion asked all of us.

"We were hoping to do training before Ash challenged the Driftveil City gym," Hilda explained to Cobalion.

'_And we were hoping that it would be free of Team Plasma's influence,_' added a beat up Pikachu. '_That was not to be as three wicked humans dropped in unannounced and tried to steal Kyurem for their leader Ghetsis._'

Virizion then telepathically sighed as she looked to her companions and said to them, 'It looks as if we will have to rejoin them. There is no telling what Team Plasma will do once they get their hands on Kyurem or any other powerful Pokémon.'

'I agree,' concurred Cobalion as he gave a slight nod of agreement while still keeping an eye on Keldeo's battle against the Boundary Pokémon.

After an epic battle between Kyurem and Keldeo, the Colt Pokémon yielded after being worn down considerably. Keldeo was finally able to use his sword the way that his three masters taught him. Cobalion and the other two Swords of Justice were able to finally add Keldeo as one of the Swords of Justice. Once the now four Swords of Justice recited their motto, Misty then asked Keldeo if he wanted to join her crew of Water-type Pokémon as she was heading back to Cerulean City in the Kanto region to resume her duties as the Cerulean City gym leader. A slight nod and a Dive Ball later, Keldeo was not only a Sword of Justice, but one of Misty's Pokémon as well. Misty then thought that it was time for her and Keldeo to leave for the Kanto region. After receiving words of encouragement from Cobalion and the other two Swords of Justice, Keldeo and Misty left the group.

'I believe you should introduce your friends to us,' Virizion requested of Ash.

"Oh, the couple standing next to May is Jonathan and Abelia Seabright from the Oblivia Islands," Ash said to the three Swords of Justice. "And the couple tending to the shiny Gardevoir is Relena Kaiou and Richie Henderson and they're from the Atlantica Islands."

"Relena and Richie are engaged to be married to each other like Ash and I are," I added to the Swords of Justice.

"They're also the champions of the Atlantica Islands too," added Ash.

'We know the Ocean Princess and the Emerald Prince,' Virizion said to Ash and I. 'But it is nice to meet your friends from the Oblivia Islands.'

"Jonathan trains Water-type Pokémon like Misty does," explained Hilda.

"While I train Bug-type Pokémon," Abelia said to the three Swords of Justice.

"Man, I'm glad that we didn't have to worry about Team Plasma for the rest of that time," Ash said as the remaining time of that two weeks flew by. "Now I'm ready to challenge the Driftveil City gym leader."

"_We have a winner for that automatic entry into the Royal Cup,_" the tournament MC said to the people on the television and people watching the Pokémon World Tournament. "_The winner of the Pokémon World Tournament is Mikki Shiozaki of Celadon City. Miss Shiozaki not only has bragging rights for 4 years, but she also gains the automatic entry into Royal Cup tournament set to take place in the Atlantica Islands next year._"

'Oh boy, Miss Shiozaki is going to be quite the opponent, especially if you have to face her in the Royal Cup tournament,' Victini stated to Ash. 'I hope that if you do make it to the Royal Cup tournament, that you don't face her in the first round like in the Pokémon World Tournament.'

Setting aside Victini's comment, Ash and I decided to turn in as the train departing to Nimbasa City was going to be arriving and departing that morning. The group got all of their Pokémon healed up, chosen to take to Driftveil City gym and then turned in for the night. We were confident that we were ready to face the set of challenges and the new day.

Author's note: Thanks to EmperorDraco7 for the contributions he's made in helping write this chapter. Credit for the OC Mikki Shiozaki goes to dA artist Miyuki-Tsukiyono. Hope you enjoy this retelling of the 15th Pokémon movie. Stick around folks because there's gonna be more...

Victini: 'MORE OF ME! Yes ladies, there's gonna be more of yours truly, the chick magnet of the Unova region. Read and review the chapter please! Sparky would like the more reviews!'


End file.
